Suckling and Silence in the USA: The Costs and Benefits of Breastfeeding

Feminist literature has highlighted the way in which pregnancy and childbearing signal ''difference'' from the male labor market norm. The issue of breastfeeding adds complexity to this analysis. This paper argues that, in labor market terms, there are costs attached to breastfeeding for most women. However, health-focused research indicates that there are also significant benefits conferred by breastfeeding to mothers, infants, employers and wider society in industrialized as well as in so-called ''developing'' economies. In this essay, I argue that although the dominant American discourse on infant feeding emphasizes personal preference on the part of individual women there are, in fact, significant economic and employment-related factors which impinge on infant feeding options. In particular, those women in the most disadvantaged positions in the labor market are, in general, the most constrained in terms of such choice. However, while pregnancy and childbirth have been the subject of intense feminist interest and debate, breastfeeding and its intersection with women's increasing participation in paid work has not been foregrounded either within feminist equality/difference debates or within recent labor market analyses. Finally, it is suggested that feminist analyses of labor market issues, including debates about parental/family leave, need to incorporate both the costs and benefits of breastfeeding.