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"I just don't think it's that natural": Adolescent mothers' constructions of breastfeeding as deviant

Jamie, K.; Hackshaw-McGeagh, L.; Bows, H.; O'Neill, R.

"I just don't think it's that natural": Adolescent mothers' constructions of breastfeeding as deviant Thumbnail


Authors

L. Hackshaw-McGeagh

R. O'Neill



Abstract

Breastfeeding is recognised globally as the optimal method of infant feeding. For Murphy (1999) Sociology of Health & Illness, 21, 187–208 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) Sociology of Health & Illness, 21, 187–208 framework to encompass diverse experiences of infant feeding. We conclude with reflections on future research directions and potential implications for practice.

Citation

Jamie, K., Hackshaw-McGeagh, L., Bows, H., & O'Neill, R. (2020). "I just don't think it's that natural": Adolescent mothers' constructions of breastfeeding as deviant. Sociology of Health & Illness, 42(7), 1689-1708. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13157

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 16, 2020
Online Publication Date Jul 28, 2020
Publication Date 2020-09
Deposit Date Jun 22, 2020
Publicly Available Date Jul 31, 2020
Journal Sociology of Health & Illness
Print ISSN 0141-9889
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 42
Issue 7
Pages 1689-1708
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13157

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2020 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation for SHIL (SHIL). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.






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