What children consume in their early years \u2013 breast or formula milk, organic or \u2018junk\u2019 food \u2013 is often a topic of heated public debate. Childhood eating has become powerfully linked in the social and political imagination to wider problems such as obesity, cancers and even intellectual development and emotional health. Such problems are now routinely described in catastrophic terms. These days, questioning the validity of crusades to shake up apparently complacent adults and compel them to change the dietary habits of the young, risks widespread opprobrium.<\/p>\n
It was this aspect of parenting culture that gave rise to the idea for a Centre for Parenting Culture Studies. \u00a0The event ‘Feeding babies and Parenting Culture’ was held at the University of Kent in May 2023, marking 20 years since our initial research on this topic. Watch recordings from the day here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow these links for more.<\/p>\n Read on<\/strong><\/p>\n Infant feeding and the problems of policy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Breast-Feeding Advocacy, Risk Society and Health Moralism: A Decade\u2019s Scholarship<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Health, morality, and infant feeding: British mothers\u2019 experiences of formula milk use in the early weeks\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n ‘If they want to risk the health and well-being of their child, that’s up to them’: Long-term breastfeeding, risk and maternal identity\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n