This book brings together international academics, policy makers and practitioners to build bridges between the real-world and scholarship on breastfeeding. It asks the question: How can the latest social science research into breastfeeding be used to improve support at both policy and practice level, in order to help women breastfeed and to breastfeed for longer? The edited collection includes discussion about the social and cultural contexts of breastfeeding and looks at how policy and practice can apply this to women’s experiences. This will be essential reading for academics, policy makers and practitioners in public health, midwifery, child health, sociology, women's studies, psychology, human geography and anthropology, who want to make a real change for mothers.

This book brings together international academics, policy makers and practitioners to build bridges between the real-world and scholarship on breastfeeding. It asks the question: How can the latest social science research into breastfeeding be used to improve support at both policy and practice level, in order to help women breastfeed and to breastfeed for longer? The edited collection includes discussion about the social and cultural contexts of breastfeeding and looks at how policy and practice can apply this to women’s experiences. This will be essential reading for academics, policy makers and practitioners in public health, midwifery, child health, sociology, women's studies, psychology, human geography and anthropology, who want to make a real change for mothers.

Breastfeeding: New Anthropological Approaches unites sociocultural, biological, and archaeological anthropological scholarship to spark new conversations and research about breastfeeding. While breastfeeding has become the subject of intense debate in many settings, anthropological perspectives have played a limited role in these conversations. The present volume seeks to broaden discussions around breastfeeding by showcasing fresh insights gleaned from an array of theoretical and methodological approaches, which are grounded in the close study of people across the globe. Drawing on case studies and analyses of key issues in the field, the book highlights the power of anthropological research to illuminate the evolutionary, historical, biological, and sociocultural context of the complex, lived experience of breastfeeding. By bringing together researchers across three anthropological subfields, the volume seeks to produce transformative knowledge about human lactation, breastfeeding, and human milk. This book is a key resource for scholars of medical and biological anthropology, evolutionary biology, bioarchaeology, sociocultural anthropology, and human development. Lactation professionals and peer supporters, midwives, and others who support infant feeding will find the book an essential read.

Nighttime for many new parents in the United States is fraught with the intense challenges of learning to breastfeed and helping their babies sleep so they can get rest themselves. Through careful ethnographic study of the dilemmas raised by nighttime breastfeeding, and their examination in the context of anthropological, historical, and feminist studies, this volume unravels the cultural tensions that underlie these difficulties. As parents negotiate these dilemmas, they not only confront conflicting medical guidelines about breastfeeding and solitary infant sleep, but also larger questions about cultural and moral expectations for children and parents, and their relationship with one another.

Postpartum depression has become a more recognized mental illness over the past decade as a result of education and increased awareness. Traumatic childbirth, however, is still often overlooked, resulting in a scarcity of information for health professionals. This is in spite of up to 34% of new mothers reporting experiencing a traumatic childbirth and prevalence rates rising for high risk mothers, such as those who experience stillbirth or who had very low birth weight infants. This ground-breaking book brings together an academic, a clinician and a birth trauma activist. Each chapter discusses current research, women’s stories, the common themes in the stories and the implications of these for practice, clinical case studies and a clinician’s insights and recommendations for care. Topics covered include: mothers’ perspectives, fathers’ perspectives, the impact on breastfeeding, the impact on subsequent births, PTSD after childbirth and EMDR treatment for PTSD. This book is a valuable resource for health professionals who come into contact with new mothers, providing the most current and accurate information on traumatic childbirth. It also presents mothers’ experiences in a manner that is accessible to women, their partners, and families.