IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v6y2017i2p50-d98877.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Mothers’ Infant Feeding Decisions and Practices

Author

Listed:
  • Emma Head

    (School of Social Science and Public Policy, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK)

Abstract

This paper begins with a discussion of social research which seeks to critique the emphasis on breastfeeding in infant feeding health promotion. The key themes of this research center on science, risk, and morality but other factors can also shape mothers’ decisions and practices regarding infant feeding, and particularly, breastfeeding. The paper explores a range of research studies which together highlight the wide range of social, cultural, and economic factors implicated in infant feeding decisions and practices. The discussions here demonstrate that social and economic factors, familial and social networks, interactions with health professionals, cultural contexts which sexualize women’s bodies, and experiences of public space, can all play a role in shaping how mothers negotiate infant feeding. This broad conceptualization of the factors that shape infant feeding practices offered by social research poses a challenge to the more simplistic accounts of infant feeding decisions implicit in public health promotion. It also demonstrates the profoundly social quality of infant feeding decisions that women make and the particular contributions that social research can make to our understandings of this area.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Head, 2017. "Understanding Mothers’ Infant Feeding Decisions and Practices," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:2:p:50-:d:98877
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/2/50/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/2/50/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dykes, Fiona, 2005. "'Supply' and 'demand': breastfeeding as labour," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2283-2293, May.
    2. Government of India, 2017. "National Health Policy 2017," Working Papers id:11664, eSocialSciences.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Tajul Masron & Mduduzi Biyase & Talent Zwane & Thomas Udimal & Frederich Kirsten, 2023. "Ecological footprint and population health outcomes: an analysis of E7 countries," Economics Working Papers edwrg-07-2023, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, revised 2023.
    2. G. Kent Fellows & Daniel J. Dutton & Aidan Hollis, 2018. "Making Sure Orphan Drugs Don’t Get Left Behind," SPP Communique, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 10(6), August.
    3. Shawhan, Daniel L. & Picciano, Paul D., 2019. "Costs and benefits of saving unprofitable generators: A simulation case study for US coal and nuclear power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 383-400.
    4. Richard Isralowitz & Mor Yehudai & Daichi Sugawara & Akihiro Masuyama & Shai-li Romem Porat & Adi Dagan & Alexander Reznik, 2022. "Economic Impact on Health and Well-Being: Comparative Study of Israeli and Japanese University “Help” Profession Students," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-11, November.
    5. Shu Yan & Lizi Pan & Yan Lu & Juan Chen & Ting Zhang & Dongzi Xu & Zhaolian Ouyang, 2023. "Towards Sustainable Drug Supply in China: A Bibliometric Analysis of Drug Reform Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Liang-Chung Huang & Wu-Fu Chung & Shih-Wei Liu & Jau-Ching Wu & Li-Fu Chen & Yu-Chun Chen, 2019. "Characteristics of Non-Emergent Visits in Emergency Departments: Profiles and Longitudinal Pattern Changes in Taiwan, 2000–2010," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Bozena Wielgoszewska & Alex Bryson & Monica Costa-Dias & Francesca Foliano & Heather Joshi & David Wilkinson, 2021. "Exploring the Reasons for Labour Market Gender Inequality a Year into the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the UK Cohort Studies," DoQSS Working Papers 21-23, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    8. Shi, Wunan & Wouters, Olivier J. & Liu, Gordon & Mossialos, Elias & Yang, Xiuyun, 2020. "Association between provincial income levels and drug prices in China over the period 2010–2017," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    9. Anshul Kastor & Sanjay K Mohanty, 2018. "Disease-specific out-of-pocket and catastrophic health expenditure on hospitalization in India: Do Indian households face distress health financing?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, May.
    10. Francesco Bogliacino & Rafael Charris & Camilo Gómez & Felipe Montealegre & Cristiano Codagnone, 2021. "Expert endorsement and the legitimacy of public policy. Evidence from Covid19 mitigation strategies," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 394-415, April.
    11. Katie Adamek & Sarah Bardin & So O'Neil & Dara Lee Luca, "undated". "Accelerating Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Phillips County, Arkansas and Coahoma County, Mississippi," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 7fda86cbb1bf4303a84f466e8, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Kellen J. Karimi & Aijaz Ahmad & Adriano Duse & Mutuku Mwanthi & Richard Ayah, 2022. "Prevalence of Antibiotic Use and Disposal at Household Level in Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. ADEBOLA, Olukemi Grace, 2020. "Universal Health Coverage In Nigeria And Its Determinants: The Case Of National Health Insurance Scheme," Academic Review of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bursa Teknik Üniversitesi, vol. 3(1), pages 97-111.
    14. Signorelli, C. & Odone, A. & Oradini-Alacreu, A. & Pelissero, G., 2020. "Universal Health Coverage in Italy: lights and shades of the Italian National Health Service which celebrated its 40th anniversary," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 69-74.
    15. Pankaj Bahuguna & Indranil Mukhopadhyay & Akashdeep Singh Chauhan & Saroj Kumar Rana & Sakthivel Selvaraj & Shankar Prinja, 2018. "Sub-national health accounts: Experience from Punjab State in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, December.
    16. Han, Lu & Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias & Opsahl, Tore, 2018. "The social network of international health aid," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 67-74.
    17. Misty L. Heggeness & Donna K. Ginther & Maria I. Larenas & Frances D. Carter-Johnson, 2018. "The Impact of Postdoctoral Fellowships on a Future Independent Career in Federally Funded Biomedical Research," NBER Working Papers 24508, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Burieva Nigora Hasanovna, 2019. "Models of Financing and Organization of Health Care System-International Experience," International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, Inovatus Services Ltd., vol. 5(5), pages 7-12, July.
    19. J. Andrew Harris & Catherine Kamindo & Peter van der Windt, 2020. "Electoral Administration in Fledgling Democracies:Experimental Evidence from Kenya," Working Papers 20200036, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Jan 2020.
    20. Carolina Cortes-Herrera & Graciela Artavia & Silvia Quiros-Fallas & Eduardo Calderon-Calvo & Astrid Leiva & Josue Vasquez-Flores & Fabio Granados-Chinchilla, 2023. "Analysis of Minerals in Foods: A Three-year Survey from Costa Rican Market Products," Journal of Food Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, January.

    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:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:2:p:50-:d:98877. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.