Perpetuating “Scientific Motherhood”: Infant Feeding Discourse in Parents Magazine, 1930–2007

Abstract

Although breastfeeding initiation rates have recently been at an all-time high, duration continues to be considerably low. Given the health benefits associated with extended breastfeeding, this discrepancy is cause for concern. This research examined the messages conveyed about infant feeding in a popular parenting magazine, Parents magazine, from 1930 through 2007. Findings indicated that the messages about infant feeding shifted in accordance with changing ideologies about the means of infant feeding—from bottle-feeding to breastfeeding. However, even with changing attitudes toward infant feeding, writers used scientific evidence and the advice of “experts” to justify the dominant form of feeding. The absence of practical advice regarding breastfeeding challenges, especially from “real” women set up false expectations about the breastfeeding experience, painting it as “natural” and best for the baby. The dependency on experts and lack of practical advice in popular media, like Parents magazine, may help explain a societal trend that downplays breastfeeding obstacles, giving insight into the vast discrepancy between breastfeeding initiation and duration.

KEYWORDS:

• breastfeeding
• expert
• scientific motherhood
• magazine
• parenting

Notes

1. A quantitative content analysis of Parents magazine advertisements of infant feeding precluded this study, finding that trends in the frequency of formula advertising were negatively correlated with breastfeeding rates (Foss & Southwell, 2006).

2. Because commercial electric breast pumps were not available until the 1990s, unless an article or photo caption mentioned expressed breast milk, this research assumed that references to bottle-feeding referred to formula consumption (Lepore, 2009).

3. See Arora et al., 2000; Aaronson, Mural, and Pfoutz, 1988; Lewallen, 2004.