Contradiction, breastfeeding and motherhood: A qualitative analysis of stay-at-home mothers' breastfeeding experiences

• In Event: Turning Inward; Evolving Culturally: Yet Even More Competitive Papers in Ethnography

Abstract

Using crystallization to blend inductive grounded analysis with autoethnography and art, this study weaves together a tale of privilege and struggle. To better understand breastfeeding mothers' voices, this study utilizes interview data from privileged mothers, autoethnography, and “Motherhood” Angelina and child Diego to produce rich descriptions of lived experiences. Analysis reveals that privileged mothers (white, middle-class, stay-at-home moms) have varied and contradictory breastfeeding experiences as they struggle with natural-unnatural and pleasuring-disciplining discourses and embodiment.

Author

• Elizabeth Spradley, Texas A&M Univ