Motherhood and Breastfeeding: a Gender Perspective

Abstract

From our theoretical perspective, we understand motherhood and breastfeeding as biopsychosocial processes that produce a diversity of women"™s experiences and gives rise to ambivalent feelings. In this paper we present some results from a qualitative research, whose main purpose was to investigate the heterogeneity in the beliefs, representations and personal experiences of ten women with their motherhood and breastfeeding. Through semi-structured interviews, we asked five first-time mothers and five mothers with previous children, at two different times on different issues related to their motherhood and their breastfeeding. Generally, results support that women have prototypical but different representations of motherhood, do not include breastfeeding in "good motherhood" and are aware of the social debates surrounding breastfeeding. In short, they suggest that we need to demystify motherhood and breastfeeding showing the diversity of women"™s experiences.