Resisting Intensive Motherhood? Women's Accounts on Infant Feeding in Spain

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6453232
AutoresMarta Domínguez-Folgueras (0000-0003-2071-699X, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen19
Número4
Fecha de publicación2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology Compass (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1751-9020 • E-ISSN: 1751-9020
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soc4.70057
OpenAlexW4409541155
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas37

Research has shown that mothers reproduce intensive motherhood norms, either by conforming to the expected behaviors in their mothering activities or by using intensive motherhood as a reference to account for their behavior when it is not conforming to the norm. How mothers resist the principles of intensive motherhood remains underexplored. In the case of infant feeding, previous studies point to mothers not questioning the main tenets of the model. This paper analyzes 57 interviews conducted with first‐time mothers in Spain in 2013 and shows that, in the case of infant feeding practices, some mothers do oppose one of the main principles of intensive motherhood, the idea of child centrality. Mothers do so by using two main tropes: their enjoyment of breastfeeding and the priority given to other activities. By doing so, mothers overcome invisibility as subjects and undo intensive motherhood

Sociology · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences · Child Welfare and Adoption · Children's Rights and Participation · Gender Studies