Nighttime Breastfeeding - An American Cultural Dilemma

New parents in the United States are caught between responding to infant needs for closeness and breastfeeding, and cultural and medical norms that emphasize solitary sleep. This anthropological investigation shows that nighttime closeness and breastfeeding are the evolutionary and cross-cultural norm, but recent sociocultural shifts produced novel ideals of separation. The book uncovers how breastfeeding parents rework these cultural ideals. In this new edition, the author describes shifting medical guidance that increasingly supports breastfeeding yet remains largely separated from infant sleep guidance. The volume also provides a path towards more equitable approaches to nighttime infant care grounded in reproductive justice.

About the author

Cecília Tomori is Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing with a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health. She is the co-author of the 2023 Lancet Series on Breastfeeding and is the co-editor of two additional books, Breastfeeding: New Anthropological Approaches (Routledge 2018), and The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction (2022).

Product details

• Authors: Cecilia Tomori, Cecília Tomori, Cecilia Tomori Tomori
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.2025
• EAN: 9781805398288
• ISBN: 978-1-80539-828-8
• No. of pages: 336
• Series: Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality: Social and Cultural Perspectives
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, HEALTH & FITNESS / Breastfeeding, Sociology: family & relationships, Pregnancy, birth & baby care, United States of America, USA, Social and cultural anthropology, Pregnancy, birth and baby care: advice and issues, Sociology: family and relationships, Medical Anthropology; Gender Studies and Sexuality