Nevertheless, the episode shocked health-policy advocates because breastfeeding seems so, well, wholesome. To some critics of the U.S. delegation’s actions, it seemed like an example of the Trump administration bowing to the food industry and infant-formula manufacturers. “What this battle in Geneva showed us is that we have a U.S. government that is strongly aligned with the interests of the infant-formula industry and dairy industry, and are willing to play hardball,” said Lucy Sullivan, the director of 1,000 Days, an advocacy group that works on nutrition for mothers and children.

Sullivan and other health advocates point to a “stakeholder listening session” that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services held with industry groups and nonprofits two weeks before the World Health Organization meeting in Geneva. As usual, dairy, grocery, and baby-formula groups gave their opinion to the U.S. delegates about the WHO resolutions. What seemed different this year, health advocates told me, is how forcefully the U.S. delegates acted on the trade groups’ opposition.

A representative from Nestle, which makes baby formula and baby food, spoke out at the session, according to Mary Champeny, a program officer with the nutrition group Helen Keller International who was at the listening session. The company said it opposed the resolution because of its reference to an earlier, 2016 World Health Assembly resolution, which they said “restricts complementary feeding,” the gradual introduction of solid foods along with breast milk starting at around six months of age. Champeny remembers another group, a supermarket lobby, also speaking out against part of the resolution at the same session. In talking points from the listening session provided to The Atlantic, a Nestle representative wrote, among other things, “We believe that to significantly increase breastfeeding rates and promote healthy diets, the Guidance when implemented by Member States should consider other important measures other than simply recommending additional restrictions on the promotion of commercial baby food.”

In prepared remarks written for the listening session, a coalition of dairy interest groups seemed to take issue with the fact that WHA guidance “redefines all milk products for children up to age three as ‘breastmilk substitutes,’” and said they “urge the U.S. government to ensure the WHA does not endorse the Guidance or call on member states to implement the Guidance.” Regarding another provision, the dairy groups said, “We encourage the United States to ensure that any future recommendations from WHO explicitly recognize the benefit of engaging with the food and beverage industry.”

This latest tussle in Geneva follows a decades-long battle by infant-formula makers to promote themselves as essentially on par with breast milk. And while health experts instead say “breast is best,” as this incident shows, policymakers aren’t always willing to put legislation behind that message.