"Motherhood is like a roller coaster lots of ups, then downs, something chaotic "; UK & Israeli women's experiences of motherhood 6-12 months postpartum.

Background: The motherhood myth has been associated with perceptions of idealised motherhood which makes it difficult for women to express related struggles or distress. This is a second follow-up study focusing on the experiences of mothers from the United Kingdom (UK) and Israel. Methods: Forty-one women were interviewed about their experience of motherhood, body-image, feeding and well-being. Interviews were analysed thematically. Data were driven by the following questions: 1. how do Israeli and UK women experience motherhood 6-12 months postpartum? 2. Are these experiences associated with body satisfaction and well-being? 3. Whether perceptions of motherhood remained stable or changed from early (<6 months) to 12 months postpartum. Results: Three meta-themes were derived from the data relating to motherhood as ideal, good enough or burdened. Such experiences were associated with body acceptance and well-being. The ideal mother was associated with lack of preoccupation with body image whereas the good enough mother aspired to reclaim her mind and her old body. Our findings suggested that the burdened mothers' struggles in relating to motherhood often correlated to a negative body image. Israeli women perceived motherhood as ideal in the early and later postpartum whereas UK mothers continued to relate to their motherhood as ideal 6-12 months postpartum. Conclusions: Perceptions of motherhood varied between Israeli and UK mothers suggesting a diversity positively associated with culture and country. Encouraging mothers to openly share their perceptions of motherhood could lead to improvements in maternal well-being and more positive interactions with the newborn.

"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.