I just don't think it's that natural

Adolescent Mothers' Constructions of Breastfeeding as Deviant

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2249776
AutoresKimberly Jamie (0000-0001-9151-0871, Department of Sociology Durham University Durham UK, autor de correspondencia), Lucy Mcgeagh (0000-0002-9226-5115, Oxford Institute of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Research Oxford Brookes University Oxford UK, autor de correspondencia), Hannah Bows (0000-0001-5374-3770, Durham Law School Durham University Durham University Durham UK, autor de correspondencia), Roisin O’neill (Centre for Public Health School of Medicine Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences Queen’s University Belfast Belfast UK, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen42
Número7
Páginas1689-1708
Fecha de publicación2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.13157
PMID32721051
OpenAlexW3045705226
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas52

Breastfeeding is recognised globally as the optimal method of infant feeding. For Murphy (1999) its nutritional superiority positions breastfeeding as a moral imperative where mothers who formula-feed are open to charges of maternal deviance and must account for their behaviour. We suggest that this moral superiority of breastfeeding is tenuous for mothers from marginalised contexts and competes with discourses which locate breastfeeding, rather than formula feeding, as maternal deviance. We draw on focus group and interview data from 27 adolescent mothers from socio-economically deprived neighbourhoods in three areas of the UK, and five early years professionals working at a Children's Centre in the Northeast of England. We argue that breastfeeding is constructed as deviance at three 'levels' as (i) a deviation from broad social norms about women's bodies, (ii) a deviation from local mothering behaviours and (iii) a transgression within micro-level interpersonal and familial relationships. Given this positioning of breastfeeding as deviant, breastfeeding mothers feel obliged to account for their deviance. In making this argument, we extend and rework Murphy's (1999) framework to encompass diverse experiences of infant feeding. We conclude with reflections on future research directions and potential implications for practice

Breastfeeding · Developmental psychology · Deviance (statistics · Marine transgression · Positive deviance · Sociology · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences · Children's Rights and Participation · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Pediatrics