Women's Experience of Breast Feeding

Andrea Levan is Co-ordinator of Women’s Studies and an assistant
professor at Laurentian University.

Based on a study of 122 women who were interviewed in depth at various
stages between the third trimester of pregnancy and six months
postpartum, this book examines the breast-feeding experience from the
perspective of mothers. As MacLean notes, the meaning of breast feeding
for women has remained largely unarticulated, and the book attempts to
fill this gap. The words of the women themselves, frequently quoted,
give the analysis a sense of immediacy and veracity that is its greatest
strength.

The book examines the factors that lead women to choose breast or
bottle feeding and those that influence the decision to wean early or
late. The nature of the support available to nursing mothers is also
examined. The women in this study breast fed for longer periods than the
Canadian average, and for the most part exhibited a strong commitment
and positive response to breast feeding. Nevertheless, the many
difficulties they faced—including physical discomforts, scheduling
problems, fatigue, and problems with feeding in public—are thoroughly
assessed. A theme that emerges is the contradiction between the image of
breast feeding that the women had before the birth and the reality
afterwards. Many were unprepared, uncertain about their performance, and
vulnerable to negative criticism, especially from physicians.

The book is recommended to women who are contemplating breast feeding,
to those who would like to gain a better understanding of their past
experiences, and to anyone wishing to understand the ways in which
societal responses and supports need to be modified to accommodate this
central experience of women.