Tandem nursing as specific means of attachment parenting – mothers' experiences

Veronika Hanáčková
Zuzana Masopustová

Abstract

The phenomenon of tandem nursing has not been much captured by psychological research. Tandem nursing is practiced by some mothers who follow the trend of attachment parenting. In tandem nursing, the mother breastfeeds both the younger and the older child at the same time. In-depth interviews were conducted with four women who claimed to practice attachment parenting and breastfed their toddler child together with their older sibling at preschool age. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data, and four main themes were identified: 1) Efforts to maintain breastfeeding at all costs – from the decline of breastfeeding in pregnancy to the sharp increase after childbirth to the ideal of self-reinstatement; 2) Mother in the middle – „I feel like I'm still…always in the middle…physically and mentally…between the children“; 3) Tandem nursing as a safeguard for the older child in the new family structure and the mother's efforts to support sibling relationships; 4) Support and criticism of tandem nursing leading to reinforcement of beliefs.

https://doi.org/10.29364/epsy.419

(Fulltext in Czech)

Keywords

tandem nursing, breastfeeding, attachment parenting, interpretative phenomenological analysis

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