It was designed by Matt Daigle, a graphic artist and father, in response to a contest hosted by Mothering magazine.
Increasing cultural diversity and personal mobility have motivated a desire for universal modes of communication.
Such symbols are intended to be understood at a glance by most people without written descriptions explaining what they mean.
The modern iconography representing infancy usually involves artificial feeding or soothing objects, like a nurser bottle icon or pacifier symbol.
It has been suggested that use of the symbol may be helpful in shifting the bottle-feeding cultural paradigm toward the biological norm of breastfeeding.