Medicalizing to demedicalize: Lactation consultants and the (de)medicalization of breastfeeding

This paper uses the domain of breastfeeding in the U.S. and the work of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants to refine the concept of medicalization-demedicalization. Given lactation consultants' origins and current role in maternity care, they provide a unique lens on these processes because they are positioned at the crossroads of medicalization and demedicalization. Using 150 h of ethnographic observation and 39 interviews conducted between 2008 and 2012, I identify aspects of medicalization-demedicalization in the work of lactation consultants according to four dimensions: medical definition, medical control, pathology, and medical technology. Lactation consultants work to demedicalize breastfeeding by challenging the construction of breastfeeding pathology and limiting intervention. At the same time, they hold a position of medical control and medicalize breastfeeding by reinforcing a medical definition and using medical technology to treat breastfeeding problems. However, lactation consultants are not only working toward demedicalization and medicalization simultaneously, but are also medicalizing to demedicalize. Their position of medical control over breastfeeding provides them with a certain measure of authority that they can use in their efforts to depathologize breastfeeding and limit medical intervention. These findings build upon previous research that has identified cases of medicalization and demedicalization occurring simultaneously and draw attention to the need for an understanding of medicalization-demedicalization as a continuous process. Furthermore, the concept of “medicalizing to demedicalize” provides a novel contribution to the literature.