Perpetuating “Scientific Motherhood”: Infant Feeding Discourse in Parents Magazine, 1930-2007

Foss, Katherine A.

doi:10.1080/03630242.2010.480905

Cited by 29 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In a magazine article published in 1934 titled, "Feeding the new baby," Regina J. Woody, describes the experience of bringing an infant home from the hospital. Woody writes, "Once you are at home and the baby safely tucked into his little crib, you will be confronted, almost immediately, with the practical necessity of warming and giving some of the formula which the hospital has so kindly provided" p9 [57].…”

Section: A Cross-cultural and Historical View Of Infant Sleepmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant Sleep Development: Location, Feeding and Expectations in the Postnatal Period

Russell¹,

Robinson²,

Ball³

2013

TOSLPJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Coping with sleep disruption is a common difficulty faced by new parents. Here we take a critical, contextual and evolutionary perspective on recent evidence surrounding the development of normal infant sleep in the postnatal period, its relationship with feeding method and the relevance of sleep location. Firstly, we explore the question of defining 'normal' infant sleep, considering the timing of sleep consolidation, cross-cultural and historical perspectives, and the impact of feeding method on infant waking and parental tiredness. In the second part of the review we focus on infant sleep location, physiological and behavioural functioning and sleep safety. We summarise recent research exploring the consequences of alternate infant sleep locations, including in-hospital interventions testing the effect of these sleep locations on outcomes associated with mother-infant proximity. Finally we provide an up-to-date review of SIDS research, including case-control and cross-cultural studies that inform policy-creation and authoritative advice to parents. We find that many researchers still neglect crucial variables affecting infant sleep including sleep location and feeding method and conclude that whilst the field of infant sleep research is well-established, future studies would benefit from consideration of infant evolutionary biology and the heterogeneity of infant care practices, which would lead to valuable new research insights in understanding normal infant sleep.

show abstract

Section: A Cross-cultural and Historical View Of Infant Sleepmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant Sleep Development: Location, Feeding and Expectations in the Postnatal Period

Russell¹,

Robinson²,

Ball³

2013

TOSLPJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This blameless recipient was herself an innocent victim who through no fault of her own was physically incapable of producing her own 'liquid gold'. This 'moral mother' used medical experts to weigh potential risks of each form of infant feeding, and managed risk through expert guidance and informed choice (Apple, 1995(Apple, , 2006Faircloth, 2010Faircloth, , 2013Foss, 2010;Knaak, 2010). Such mothers were officially approved by a representative of the broader (medico-scientific) social order who certified the worthiness of the recipient, as breast milk from a bank could only accessed with a physician prescription.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the ideology of intensive mothering, the 'scientific mother' is expected to rely on scientific research to support parenting decisions; parenting choices are considered 'morally righteous' if they can be supported by scientific research, which mothers are expected to use appropriately (Apple, 1995(Apple, , 2006Faircloth, 2010Faircloth, , 2013Foss, 2010;Hammer & Inglin, 2014;Knaak, 2010). Researchers have found that that mothers do approach decisions about feeding their babies rationally; assessing risks in their decisions to breastfeed (Knaak, 2010;Lee 2007Lee , 2008 or to share milk (Gribble, 2014) or when selecting one formula over another (Afflerback, Carter, Anthony, & Grauerholz, 2013).…”

Section: Milk Sharing Mothering and Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid gold or Russian roulette? Risk and human milk sharing in the US news media

Carter

Reyes‐Foster

Rogers

2015

Health, Risk & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The exchange of human breast milk, a common and well-established practice, has become a site of public controversy in the US. There is controversy over the use of the internet to facilitate milk exchange and public interest in the practice has been stimulated by a research article published in the journal Pediatrics that identified high levels of potentially harmful bacteria in breast milk sold online. In this article we use feminist critical discourse analysis to critically examine how breast milk sharing is represented in a sample of 30 articles from US print newspapers published in 2010-2013. We found complex and contradictory images of human milk, with medically supervised milk banks represented as a life-saving entity, nature's 'liquid gold', whereas peer sharing of breast milk was represented as dangerous, and in this context breast milk was represented as a potentially life-threatening substance. Women who donated milk to milk banks were represented as altruistic and those who obtained their babies' milk from the milk bank were represented as responsible and acting in the best interests of their babies. In contrast women who participated in peer milk sharing were represented at best as ill-informed about the risks to babies and at worst, morally reprehensible for disregarding the risks. Mothers who fed their babies this milk were represented as irresponsible and playing 'Russian roulette' with their babies. We argue that such contradictory representations are grounded in concerns in high income countries such as the USA with the control and surveillance of the female body through discourses of risk and are based on cultural constructions of individualism and intensive mothering. IntroductionIn this article we aim to examine how breast milk sharing is portrayed in popular media in the US. We draw on feminist critical discourse analysis to analyse newspaper articles about milk sharing to identify how milk sharing is represented in contemporary news media in the US. We selected US print newspapers with the top twenty highest circulation to focus on the articles that potentially have the greatest impact in shaping public perceptions. We analyse news media rather than parenting guides as the media has a broader reach and greater potential to shape general public perceptions. We aim to explore how milk sharing is represented through news media, focusing on distinctions between peer sharing and sharing through more formal milk banks. In this article we do not examine the ways in which such representation influence the readers of such media,

show abstract

“…Media images of celebrities breastfeeding are relatively rare compared with representations of non-celebrity breastfeeding (Brown and Peuchaud 2008;Foss 2010;Leah Frerichs, Julie L. Andsager, Shelly Campo, Mary Aquilino, and Carolyn Stewart Dyer 2006;Lesley Henderson, Jenny Kitzinger, and Josephine Green 2000). In the last fifteen years, only one high-circulation US magazine cover besides Jolie's W photo has featured an image of celebrity breastfeeding.…”

Section: Intimacy On Display: Maternal Celebrity Bodies In the Mediamentioning

confidence: 97%

Not “Simply the Breast”

Duvall

2014

Feminist Media Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two prominent media events involving breastfeeding celebrities prompted unprecedented transnational media attention to their bodies, their breastfeeding practices, and their beliefs about the act of breastfeeding. This study critically analyzes media representations of Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie that feature (or imply) a nursing celebrity breast to argue that discourses about celebrity breastfeeding are a semiotically potent phenomenon that destabilize boundaries of public and private, perpetuate normative beauty standards, and prescribe proper breastfeeding practices to audiences. The transnational celebrity of Jolie, Hayek, and others makes analyzing media discourses of their breastfeeding particularly necessary because they are prominent purveyors of femininity and have made activism about women's health a key aspect of their public personae.

show abstract

Perpetuating “Scientific Motherhood”: Infant Feeding Discourse in Parents Magazine, 1930-2007

Cited by 29 publications

References 38 publications

Infant Sleep Development: Location, Feeding and Expectations in the Postnatal Period

Infant Sleep Development: Location, Feeding and Expectations in the Postnatal Period

Liquid gold or Russian roulette? Risk and human milk sharing in the US news media

Not “Simply the Breast”

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About