Women's Experiences of Breastfeeding in a Bottle-Feeding Culture

Focus group interviews were used to explore the breastfeeding attitudes and experiences of a group of low-income Scottish women who were breastfeeding in an environment where bottle-feeding was the cultural norm. The majority of women interviewed had no prior exposure to breastfeeding and received little or no support or advice for breastfeeding from family or friends. All women were participants in a breastfeeding peer-support project, and for most the peer volunteers represented their only source of support and guidance, outside of that provided by health professionals. Women often went to great lengths to avoid having to breastfeed in public, and the majority preferred to breastfeed away from the public gaze. Despite reported increases in breastfeeding rates, bottle-feeding remains the cultural norm in the more deprived areas of Glasgow. Those women who do breastfeed in these areas demonstrate a high level of commitment to breastfeeding that sets them apart from their social peers.