Psychology and Breastfeeding...
As a psychology student and a breastfeeding counsellor the opportunity to attend a seminar merging these two interests (boobs and brains as a friend indelicately put it) was far too good to pass up. Abigail Locke is a visiting social psychologist from Huddersfield University in the UK, and presented her findings from a recent study exploring the tensions, expectations and realistic advice in early breastfeeding. Abigail’s paper included interviews from 12 mothers with recent infant feeding experiences. Abigail’s study used discursive methods, analysing the conversations for common themes and interactions in the various experiences of mothers. Each of the 12 mothers had been positive about breastfeeding during their pregnancies, and expected to breastfeed. They articulated the knowledge that breastfeeding was great for babies and mothers and breastmilk was nutritionally superior. By six weeks, almost half had switched to infant formula, in line with the UKs national stati