IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v63y2006i10p2727-2738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The physical challenges of early breastfeeding

Author

Listed:
  • Kelleher, Christa M.

Abstract

Breastfeeding rates have recently increased in the United States and Canada and a majority of women now initiate breastfeeding. Feminist scholarship on breastfeeding has addressed a variety of issues related to women's breastfeeding experiences but has tended to ignore or downplay the potentially physically challenging aspects of early breastfeeding. This study, based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 52 women from Canada and the United States conducted at approximately one month postpartum, examines women's experiences of pain and discomfort associated with breastfeeding. The findings demonstrate that many women experienced pain and discomfort and that they were generally surprised by the extent, intensity and duration of discomfort and pain, which ranged from mild to severe. Several women indicated that the physical impact of breastfeeding affected their relationship with their baby; others indicated that they became hesitant to continue the practice due to feelings of physical vulnerability, pain and/or discomfort. Lastly, women's experiences of the physical implications of breastfeeding were influenced in part by assistance provided by health care practitioners, in both positive and negative ways. The practice of breastfeeding has the potential to challenge women's physicality. Feminist scholars addressing the topic of breastfeeding, women's postpartum health, and embodiment must more directly and comprehensively account for the potentially negative physical implications and demands associated with early breastfeeding.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelleher, Christa M., 2006. "The physical challenges of early breastfeeding," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2727-2738, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:10:p:2727-2738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(06)00337-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolf, J.H., 2003. "Low Breastfeeding Rates and Public Health in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(12), pages 2000-2010.
    2. Judith Galtry, 1997. "Suckling and Silence in the USA: The Costs and Benefits of Breastfeeding," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(3), pages 1-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Braimoh, Jessica & Davies, Lorraine, 2014. "When ‘breast’ is no longer ‘best’: Post-partum constructions of infant-feeding in the hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 82-89.
    2. Burns, E. & Schmied, V. & Fenwick, J. & Sheehan, A., 2012. "Liquid gold from the milk bar: Constructions of breastmilk and breastfeeding women in the language and practices of midwives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1737-1745.
    3. Ryan, Kath & Bissell, Paul & Alexander, Jo, 2010. "Moral work in women's narratives of breastfeeding," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 951-958, March.
    4. Johnson, Sally & Williamson, Iain & Lyttle, Steven & Leeming, Dawn, 2009. "Expressing yourself: A feminist analysis of talk around expressing breast milk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 900-907, September.
    5. Marshall, Joyce L. & Godfrey, Mary & Renfrew, Mary J., 2007. "Being a 'good mother': Managing breastfeeding and merging identities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 2147-2159, November.
    6. Kestler-Peleg, Miri & Shamir-Dardikman, Merav & Hermoni, Doron & Ginzburg, Karni, 2015. "Breastfeeding motivation and Self-Determination Theory," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 19-27.
    7. Torres, Jennifer M.C., 2014. "Medicalizing to demedicalize: Lactation consultants and the (de)medicalization of breastfeeding," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 159-166.
    8. Leiter, Valerie & Agiliga, Alexis & Kennedy, Evangeline & Mecham, Emma, 2022. "Pay at the pump?: Problems with electric breast pumps," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D. Mark Anderson & Ryan Brown & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees, 2016. "The Effect of Occupational Licensing on Consumer Welfare: Early Midwifery Laws and Maternal Mortality," NBER Working Papers 22456, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees, 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," NBER Working Papers 25027, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Tiffany Green, 2011. "Infant feeding and asthma: is breast milk best?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 487-504, December.
    4. D. Mark Anderson & Daniel I. Rees & Tianyi Wang, 2019. "The Phenomenon of Summer Diarrhea and its Waning, 1910-1930," NBER Working Papers 25689, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Wang, Huiqiang, 2016. "Estimating the health impacts of food safety interventions: Optimal counterfactual selections via information criteria in small samples," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 44-52.
    6. David Brennan, 2006. "Defending The Indefensible? Culture'S Role In The Productive/Unproductive Dichotomy," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 403-425.
    7. Josephine Etowa & Egbe Etowa & Hilary Nare & Ikenna Mbagwu & Jean Hannan, 2020. "Social Determinants of Breastfeeding Preferences among Black Mothers Living with HIV in Two North American Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    8. Pudrovska, Tetyana & Carr, Deborah & McFarland, Michael & Collins, Caitlyn, 2013. "Higher-status occupations and breast cancer: A life-course stress approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 53-61.
    9. Diwakar, Vidya & Malcolm, Michael & Naufal, George S, 2017. "Violent Conflict and Breastfeeding: The Case of Iraq," IZA Discussion Papers 10937, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2020. "The phenomenon of summer diarrhea and its waning, 1910-1930⁎," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Marianne Lønnebotn & Natalia El-Merhie & John W. Holloway & William Horsnell & Susanne Krauss-Etschmann & Francisco Gómez Real & Cecilie Svanes, 2018. "Environmental Impact on Health across Generations: Policy Meets Biology. A Review of Animal and Human Models," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I., 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 11773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Gatrell, Caroline Jane, 2007. "Secrets and lies: Breastfeeding and professional paid work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 393-404, July.
    14. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I., 2019. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality: Reply to Cutler and Miller," IZA Discussion Papers 12077, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2019. "The Phenomenon of Summer Diarrhea and Its Waning, 1910-1930," IZA Discussion Papers 12232, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Veile, Amanda & Martin, Melanie & McAllister, Lisa & Gurven, Michael, 2014. "Modernization is associated with intensive breastfeeding patterns in the Bolivian Amazon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 148-158.
    17. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & McKelligott, Michael & Rees, Daniel I., 2022. "Safeguarding Consumers through Minimum Quality Standards: Milk Inspections and Urban Mortality, 1880-1910," IZA Discussion Papers 15295, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Kelaher, Margaret & Dunt, David & Feldman, Peter & Nolan, Andrea & Raban, Bridie, 2009. "The effect of an area-based intervention on breastfeeding rates in Victoria, Australia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 89-93, April.
    19. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Michael McKelligott & Daniel I. Rees, 2022. "Safeguarding Consumers Through Minimum Quality Standards: Milk Inspections and Urban Mortality, 1880-1910," NBER Working Papers 30063, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:10:p:2727-2738. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.