This chapter examines the ways in which policy agendas and contemporary notions of the ‘good mother’ frame infant feeding practices, rendering them a site of moral and interactional trouble. Drawing on analysis of mothers’ talk with midwives during the first days of motherhood, the chapter explores the ways in which breastfeeding confers a positive maternal identity, while choosing not to do so is associated with a deficit identity against which mothers struggle to present themselves as good parents. The chapter suggests that mothers’ interactions with professionals are important places for exploring the ways in which ‘ordinary’ family practices may be troubled by professional and policy agendas that may conflict with women’s embodied experiences and cultural beliefs about what constitutes a healthy, well-fed baby. A focus on these encounters makes visible the rich texture of maternal labour and its complex and troubling relationship with policy.
Troubled talk and talk about troubles: moral cultures of infant feeding in professional, policy and parenting discourses
Lomax, Helen
(2013)
Troubled talk and talk about troubles: moral cultures of infant feeding in professional, policy and parenting discourses.
In:
Family Troubles? Exploring Changes and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People.
Policy Press, Bristol, UK, pp. 97-106.
ISBN 978-1447304432
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