"It's like giving him a piece of me.": Exploring UK and Israeli women's accounts of motherhood and feeding.

OBJECTIVE: The present study explored how Israeli and UK mothers integrate feeding into their conceptualisations of mothering 2-6 months post-partum. BACKGROUND: The nature and importance of motherhood is subject to differential contextual, cultural, political and historical influences. We set out to compare experiences of motherhood and feeding between these two countries using a qualitative approach. METHODS: Forty one women (mean age 36.4 ± 2.7 years) from Israel and the UK, mostly married or in a committed relationship were interviewed about their experience of pregnancy, motherhood and feeding. Data were analysed thematically. RESULTS: The experience of motherhood in the early postnatal period was dominated, for all mothers, by the experience of breastfeeding and clustered around three representations of mothering, namely; 1) a devoted mother who ignores her own needs; 2) a mother who is available for her infant but acknowledges her needs as well; and 3) a struggling mother for whom motherhood is a burden. Such representations existed within both cultural groups and sometimes coexisted within the same mothers. UK women described more struggles within motherhood whereas a tendency towards idealising motherhood was observed for Israeli women. CONCLUSION: There are similarities in the ways that UK and Israeli women experienced motherhood and feeding. Where family life is strongly emphasized, mothers reported extremes of idealism and burden and associated an "ideal" mother with a breastfeeding mother. Where motherhood is represented as just one of many roles women take up, they are more likely to represent a "good enough" approach to mothering. Understanding the experience of motherhood and feeding in different cultural settings is important to provide the context for postnatal care specifically where mothers are reluctant to share problems or difficulties encountered.

Self-reports of short- and long-term effects of bullying on children who stammer.

BACKGROUND: Victimisation at school may result in long-term social, emotional and psychological effects (Parker & Asher, 1987; Sharp, 1995), particularly for children with special educational needs (Whitney et al., 1994). Children who stammer may be at risk of being bullied due to their peer-relationship and verbal difficulties. AIM: This study aimed to explore the nature, frequency and causes of bullying amongst children who stammer as well as the short- and long-term effects of their victimisation. SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 276 respondents from the British Stammering Association, a national association for dysfluent people. METHOD: A retrospective analysis of school experiences related to bullying, and its effects, was conducted through both semi-structured interviews and postal questionnaires. RESULTS: A majority of respondents had experienced bullying at school, and the likelihood of being bullied was related to the reported difficulties in friendship-making. Nearly one-half of teachers and families were reported as not being aware of this bullying. A majority reported immediate negative personal effects of this bullying, and 46% reported some long-term effects. CONCLUSION: Logistic regression analyses suggested that the severity of bullying, together with other factors such as difficulty with friendships, predicted these effects. COMMENT: In response to the high incidence of bullying experienced by children who stammer, a pack has been developed which aims to create a more empathetic school climate where differences are tolerated rather than assaulted.