Using liminality to understand mothers’ experiences of long-term breastfeeding: ‘Betwixt and between’, and ‘matter out of place’

Dowling, Sally; Pontin, David

Abstract

© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. Breastmilk is widely considered as the optimum nutrition source for babies and an important factor in both improving public health and reducing health inequalities. Current international/national policy supports long-term breastfeeding. UK breastfeeding initiation rates are high but rapidly decline, and the numbers breastfeeding in the second year and beyond are unknown. This study used the concept of liminality to explore the experiences of a group of women breastfeeding long-term in the United Kingdom, building on Mahon-Daly and Andrews. Over 80 breastfeeding women were included within the study, which used micro-ethnographic methods (participant observation in breastfeeding support groups, face-to-face interviews and online asynchronous interviews via email). Findings about women’s experiences are congruent with the existing literature, although it is mostly dated and from outside the United Kingdom. Liminality was found to be useful in providing insight into women’s experiences of long-term breastfeeding in relation to both time and place. Understanding women’s experience of breastfeeding beyond current usual norms can be used to inform work with breastfeeding mothers and to encourage more women to breastfeed for longer.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 30, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 30, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 19, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 28, 2017
• Journal: Health (United Kingdom)
• Print ISSN: 1363-4593
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 57-75
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459315595846
• Keywords: long-term breastfeeding, breastfeeding experiences, liminality
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/900473
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363459315595846
• Contract Date: Apr 28, 2017