Expressed Breast Milk as Commodity: Disembodied Motherhood and Involved Fatherhood

Abstract

Exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months is the recommended method of infant feeding (World Health Organization [WHO] and United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF], 2003). Breastfeeding is being promoted as the social norm in the US, UK, and Australasia in an attempt to replace formula feeding (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2012; Australian Health Ministers’ Conference, 2009; The Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health (RCPCH), 2011), which became popular from the 1940s (Stevens et al., 2009). Breastfeeding women often feed expressed breast milk (EBM) to their own infants although EBM feeding is different from breastfeeding. Some women share, donate, and/or sell excess EBM.