Pregnant women feel they are always being judged

PREGNANT women and new mothers face more scrutiny and judgment than previous generations, a study suggests.

Researchers from Cardiff University interviewed mother and grandmother pairs and found that community surveillance of pregnant women and infant feeding had significantly increased between the generations.

Many of the mothers reported feeling watched and evaluated by family, friends and strangers and some spoke of being questioned by people they did not know about their choices during pregnancy and when feeding their babies.

Dr Aimee Grant, the lead researcher, said: “The mothers in our study described how this intrusive policing of lifestyle choices began in pregnancy and then continued to impact on their everyday lives, particularly through infant feeding.

“This observation and interference by others can result in pregnant women and new mothers performing public motherhood in ways that are highly self-aware and self-conscious, which makes it difficult to follow advice from health professionals.”

Participants in the small study said that when they were feeding infants in public, or in the presence of family members, they were aware of a need to show as little of themselves as possible as breasts were seen as sexual objects to be covered at all times.

In contrast, women who were formula feeding spoke about hiding formula packaging while preparing bottles in public.

One expectant mother recounted a visit to a café where the waiter refused to serve the afternoon tea she had ordered because of her “big belly”.

The six mother/grandmother pairs were from deprived urban areas of South Wales. These areas were selected because of low rates of breastfeeding and high rates of public health intervention. The study was published in Families Relationships and Society.