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Abstract
While infant feeding is well-studied in health literature, sociology has not examined the social context of infant feeding thoroughly. This article discusses infant feeding practices in the theoretical contexts of medicalization and feminism. Mothers completed quantitative surveys before birthing and qualitative interviews for one year following birth regarding infant feeding, family dynamics, work environment, social support, medical treatment, and body image. Data were examined for impacts of medicalization, socioeconomic status, and other factors on infant feeding behaviors. Findings support the association between socioeconomic status, medicalization, and infant feeding methods. Mothers described a classic “double-bind,” with social settings and norms working against messages from medical authorities that “breast is best.”
The authors gratefully acknowledge research funding from the Arkansas Department of Health through the WIC-Breastfeeding Division.
Notes
a 1–8 scale recoded such that a higher score reflects recommendation of longer duration of breastfeeding and a lower score reflects shorter duration recommended or formula recommended. Here, 3 = 3 mos. breastfeeding recommended, 4 = 6 mos. breastfeeding recommended, etc.
b All medical and All social network is a mean for all persons giving advice in each group, some of whom are not listed in the table (such as midwives in the All medical group and mothers-in-law in the social network group).
∗T-test for difference in mean for All medical and All social network = 16.34, p = .000).
N for all data is 21. For each data point, the percent engaging in that feeding behavior is followed by the raw number in parentheses. Raw numbers only are reported for two cells due to low numbers.