A startlingly large number of women who want to breastfeed have to stop
before they are ready, leaving them feeling a range of negative
emotions, including grief, anger, guilt, shame and frustration, and
often blaming themselves. But in a society that places little value on
breastfeeding and mothers' feelings, their painful stories are often
swept under the carpet to the detriment of women's mental health and
experience of new motherhood.
Professor Amy Brown has researched what breastfeeding really means to
women, how they can feel when things don't go according to plan and
importantly, how we can change things for the next generation of women.
Her findings make fascinating reading for anyone with personal
experience of breastfeeding difficulties, those who support mothers to
make infant feeding decisions that are right for them, or those who
simply want to be part of changing the conversation.