Connections: Breastfeeding and the non-Breastfeeder
Panel abstract: Breastfeeding decisions incorporate individuals beyond the
mother-child dyad. While medical research studies emphasize the health
benefits that breastfeeding offers to women and children, individuals'
decisionmaking processes incorporate additional factors and needs that may
include reducing maternal fatigue through incorporating non-maternal help,
enabling easy feeding of the infant outside of the home or in the presence
of others, and returning to pre-pregnancy dietary and lifestyle patterns
that reflect broader social trends. Women who feed their infants by bottle,
filled with a breastmilk substitute or expressed breastmilk, have described
how they feel judged by others, compounding existing sentiments of anxiety
and guilt. Women whose family resides abroad, or who came recently to
Canada, explain how separation from maternal kin interrupts the transmission
of knowledge about childbirth and breastfeeding. Finally, young people who
have never breastfed or given birth describe both embarrassment and
ambivalence at seeing women breastfeed. In the context of public health
initiatives to increase rates of breastfeeding initiation and the period of
exclusive breastfeeding before the introduction of other foods or liquids,
this panel addresses how connections between breastfeeding and
non-breastfeeders are implicit in women's choices.
Please submit a title and 150 word abstract by Monday, Feb 8, 2010.
For more information, contact:
Patricia L Kelly Spurles, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Principal Investigator, Mount Allison Breastfeeding Research Group / MABRG
Mount Allison University
Sackville, Canada
