The Meaning of Breastfeeding in Shaping Maternal Identity Among Indonesian Mothers: A Qualitative Study.
Breastfeeding is widely recognized as a cornerstone of maternal and child health. Beyond its nutritional and physiological value, breastfeeding is also an embodied, relational, and socioculturally situated experience through which women negotiate meanings of motherhood. However, Indonesian breastfeeding scholarship has more often emphasized prevalence, determinants, and behavioral outcomes, while the meanings women attach to breastfeeding in relation to maternal identity formation remain insufficiently explored.
This study aimed to explore how breastfeeding is experienced and narrated as part of maternal identity formation among Indonesian mothers during the exclusive breastfeeding period.
A qualitative study grounded in narrative inquiry was conducted in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Twenty-four mothers with infants aged under 6 months were purposively recruited from community health posts. Data were collected between June and October 2025 through in-depth semistructured narrative interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed manually using reflexive thematic analysis.
Three interrelated themes were identified: enacting maternal identity through breastfeeding responsibility and competence; strengthening maternal identity through embodied bonding; and becoming a mother through struggle, adaptation, and self-regulation.
Breastfeeding shaped maternal identity as a developmental, relational, and meaning-laden process during early motherhood. Midwifery care that recognizes the emotional, relational, and sociocultural meanings of breastfeeding may provide more responsive and identity-sensitive support for mothers during the transition to motherhood.
This study aimed to explore how breastfeeding is experienced and narrated as part of maternal identity formation among Indonesian mothers during the exclusive breastfeeding period.
A qualitative study grounded in narrative inquiry was conducted in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Twenty-four mothers with infants aged under 6 months were purposively recruited from community health posts. Data were collected between June and October 2025 through in-depth semistructured narrative interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed manually using reflexive thematic analysis.
Three interrelated themes were identified: enacting maternal identity through breastfeeding responsibility and competence; strengthening maternal identity through embodied bonding; and becoming a mother through struggle, adaptation, and self-regulation.
Breastfeeding shaped maternal identity as a developmental, relational, and meaning-laden process during early motherhood. Midwifery care that recognizes the emotional, relational, and sociocultural meanings of breastfeeding may provide more responsive and identity-sensitive support for mothers during the transition to motherhood.