Abstract

HABERLAND, Débora Fernanda  and  SCISLESKI, Andrea Cristina Coelho. “A Fantastic Milk Factory”: Problematising the Discourse in Support of Breastfeeding. Rev. Polis Psique [online]. 2017, vol.7, n.3, pp. 161-179. ISSN 2238-152X.

Breastfeeding is a focus of policy discourses directed at pregnant women. Pre-natal care has as principal objective the protection of both mother and child and aims at reducing their morbidity and mortality rates. This paper seeks to problematise assistance policies directed at pregnant women by a philanthropic institution providing pre-natal assistance. An intervention-research was carried out and two workshops were organised with pregnant women. In the discussions with the participants, we focused on their testimonials as to how they felt and their accounts of the discourses of health professionals. The analysis was based on a Foucauldian scaffolding to assess how women’s discourse is connected to current public policies directed at them and how this discourse is also disconnected from them. We conclude that the discourses generate specific models of breastfeeding and bolster women’s role as a mother. The control of the body, the influence of the media and judgmental social attitudes permeate care practices for pregnant women and generate a prescriptive normative reference for mothering.

Keywords : Breastfeeding; Discourse; Pregnancy.

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