‘If they want to risk the health and well-being of their child, that's up to them’

Long-term breastfeeding, risk and maternal identity

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21148846
AutoresCharlotte Faircloth (0000-0002-2919-2814, University of Cambridge, autor correspondente), Charlotte R Faircloth
Ano2010
Volume12
Fascículo4
Páginas357-367
Data de publicação2010-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHealth Risk & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1369-8575 • E-ISSN: 1469-8331
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13698571003789674
OpenAlexW2007134248
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas32
Referências citadas17

This article examines the narratives of women who breastfeed their children for ‘extended’ periods of time, as a means of exploring the relationship between risk-consciousness, infant feeding and maternal identity. The paper shows that whilst these women practice a form of infant feeding which is validated by wider policy directives emphasising the risks associated with formula milk use, their ‘identity work’ is not as straightforward as may be expected. Indeed, women sit at a juncture between affirmation and marginalisation, highlighting a significant dissonance between statistical, ideological and cultural norms. The argument is that the widespread moralisation of infant feeding practices (and parenting more generally) appears to have amplified tensions between various ‘tribes’ of mothers. In terms of risk consciousness, this leaves the mothers in this sample in a double bind: on the one hand, their marginal position is affirmed through recourse to risk reduction, on the other, their non-conventional practices are left open to the charge of ‘riskiness’ with respect to the social and emotional development of their children

Ambivalence · Breastfeeding · Business · Cognitive dissonance · Consciousness · Developmental psychology · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences · Child Welfare and Adoption · Children's Rights and Participation · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Pediatrics