Dr Kimberly Jamie kimberly.jamie@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
"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.
Authors
L. Hackshaw-McGeagh
Dr Hannah Bows hannah.bows@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
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.
Published Journal Article
(217 Kb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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