Why is Breastfeeding in Public Still a Taboo?

Abstract

Objective: The breastfeeding is highly promoted by the health professionals. However in the first months, in order to be successful, woman has to breastfeed as often as the newborn wants. With this the production of milk is assured. If woman does not want to be socially isolated, she has to breastfeed also in public. However this can still be a taboo and young mothers often feel marginalised. The goal of the study was to estimate the tolerance regarding the breastfeeding in public by Slovenians. Design and Method: The quantitative research method was adopted. The research tool was questionnaire. The link of the online survey was sent to some participants, who were asked to distribute the questionnaire (snow ball sample). The questionnaire was composed of close-ended questions with Likert scale in order to gather participants’ attitudes regarding the breastfeeding in public. The online survey was chosen since it provided confidentiality to the respondents. Results: For 3% of participants the breastfeeding in public is not acceptable by any condition. 25% thinks that it is acceptable but only if the breasts are covered. There were distinguishable differences in the answers of women, their partners and other participants. Conclusions: Despite the presumption that our society exceeded the prejudices regarding the breastfeeding in public, the results of the study show that this is still a taboo in the modern society. Probably because the women’s’ breasts are a strong sex symbol. This symbolic level is hardly vanquished, even with the argument of care for the baby.