Browsing by Author "Hyry, Henna"

The subject of this study is mothers' experiences of clothing due a period of breastfeeding. The subject has been barely studied before. The starting point for the examination were my own experiences and the conversations I had had with other mothers. The aim of the study was to analyze and conceptualize how mothers describe an influence of breastfeeding on their clothing. Data has been collected from blog entries of 19 mothers and entries were publicly readable in the Internet. Blog entries were written despite of this study and I made data retrieval using search engines. Analysis was made using qualitative methods such as content analysis, thematizing and typology. The study demonstrated that breastfeeding has influences on dressing in various ways. I divided the descriptions of dress during breastfeeding into four sections according to the content of data: taste in dressing, social environment, physical environment and reasons for the procurement of clothes. These four sections influence on dress, but their weight and meanings are different to different mothers. I formed five different types of mothers from data using typology: sheath dress mother, light work mother, demanding mother, self-indulgent mother and baby bottle mother.