Understanding intimacy as experienced by breastfeeding women.

The woman who is breastfeeding her infant may experience intimacy in a variety of ways. The author explores some of those ways, starting with identity and the woman's intimacy with herself and proceeding to the woman's intimate interaction with her infant, partner, family, or significant friends. The characteristics associated with intimacy, such as reciprocity, mutual joy, harmony, concern for other, trust, and closeness, have all been described as part of successful breastfeeding experiences. Researchers have acknowledged the influence of emotional support on breastfeeding but have failed to recognize the dynamics of intimacy as other than physical or sexual. The popular concepts of intimacy as sexual and the breast as sexual derive from a male perspective, one that restrains and shapes women's attitudes toward breastfeeding. Research on this topic is required if professionals hope to help women and their partners to understand the psychosocial dynamics of breastfeeding.