Maternal Expectations: New Mothers, Nurses, and Breastfeeding

Abstract

By the middle of the 20th century, breastfeeding rates had fallen to less than 20% in some areas of the United States. Despite these grim statistics, many mothers continued to seek information, advice, and the experience of breastfeeding their infants. This article explores the role that nurses played in these women's struggles to breastfeed in the years between the end of World War II and the 1970s. The role of the nurse in shaping the meaning and experience of breastfeeding in America has been an important, albeit often overlooked, part of the history of infant feeding. In addition to exploring the ways in which hospital policies and structures shaped nurses' relationships with breastfeeding mothers, this article looks at how different maternal ideologies influenced the nature of these (mostly) same-sex interactions. This article argues that the ideas about, and experiences with, motherhood had important implications for how nurses and mothers approached the practice of breastfeeding in the hospital.

Misunderstood as mothers: women's stories of being hospitalized for illness in the postpartum period

“…Yet nurses are human and susceptible to being influenced by personal, cultural and social beliefs when interacting with patients in the already pressured healthcare environment (Carse 1996, Brennan 1998, Hill 2010. Furthermore, nurses have historically experienced subordination and oppression in the hospital hierarchy and may find themselves caught between facilitating their patients' desire to be 'good' mothers and meeting the demands of the institution (Martucci 2012).…”

Strategically Positioned: Breastfeeding, Advocacy, and the Hands-On Nurse

“…Breastfeeding advocacy continues to be of paramount interest and concern for U.S. health and grassroots organizations. Of significance is the ongoing challenge of what grassroots organizations regard as breastfeeding's greatest barrier: the emergence and subsequent influence of the baby formula industry during the Progressive Era (Martucci, 2012).…”

“…Not immune to the shift in societal views, motherhood and infant feeding practices were heavily influenced by the modernity and science that characterized the Progressive Era. Working in tandem were two cultural shifts, both rooted in modernity, that undermined early ideologies of motherhood (Martucci, 2012): the physical space where women gave birth and the aggressive rise of the baby formula industry.…”

“…Coupled with the notion that "doctor knows best," the United States witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of hospital births (nearly 90% by the mid-20th century), in which women sought the scientific expertise of obstetricians and pediatricians, whose own work had transitioned to being hospital-based (Martucci, 2012;Spatz, 2014;Wolf, 2003). With this transition to hospital births, new mothers were faced with the beginnings of the breast versus bottle debate, with formula viewed as the more scientific manner of infant feeding.…”

“…Similarly, according to Spatz (2014) nearly all infants in the United States were breastfed until the cultural norm shifted from breastfeeding to bottle feeding. Driving this cultural shift was the transition of childbirth from residential in-home births to community-based hospital births (Martucci, 2012). The transition of childbirth to hospitals paved the way for the baby formula industry by providing easy access to market their infant feeding products, specifically infant formula, to newly delivered mothers (Spatz, 2014).…”