In these times, rather than speaking of motherhood as an archetype of what it means to be the perfect mother in different cultures—in Mexico, for example, in some contexts it still means being a self-sacrificing mother—we speak of motherhoods. It seems that today the diversity of what it means to experience mothering in different societies and contexts is so varied that, in inclusive terms, mothering can now offer a wide range of nuances.
To mother, or essentially to care for, raise, and develop a child, offers an endless array of experiences that cannot be classified today by placing mothers into a single “should be.” However, the range of options for how to mother still seems reserved for those who have the privileges to be able to exercise motherhood. More and more, motherhood is considered a collection of experiences lived differently, not the result of a mythical image of the mother.
What continues to prevail, perhaps due to the conjunction of the biological and the social, is the indispensable role of the mother as the essential primary feeding figure for humans when they are young (regardless of the choice of exclusive breastfeeding, delayed breastfeeding, or formula feeding).
At times, caring for or fostering the development of a dependent person is equivalent to feeding them. For example, in English, the verb “to nurture,” which refers to caring for a baby's development, is simply translated into Spanish as “nutrir.” Similarly, “to nurse,” which means to breastfeed, can also refer to caring for a sick person. Thus, care and food sometimes share the same verb without distinction. The figure of the mother is linked to feeding, even if she is not always the one providing food, for example, to a baby.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that the issue of feeding children is one of the main sources of stress for mothers from the moment of birth: from infancy, whether the child will be fed formula or exclusively breastfed (with the social weight such a decision carries), then with the introduction of solid foods, and later, as children grow, with the fact that in Mexico, in most households, a woman manages the household’s food. Social expectations around all these facts vary from culture to culture, but it is clear that the link between food and motherhood is a biological fact later shaped by the social context.
Depending on the context, even the way of feeding is equated with the way of mothering and the judgments that are made. However, it is necessary to recognize that while being responsible for this is a biological fact, the conditions surrounding the mother are what determine the food her children receive, no matter how much love and desire she has to do things a certain way. The context, the help and support from her close network, and economic and work conditions are what influence how mothers feed their children, often not by choice, but pushed by the immediate needs of their environment.
— This article was originally published in Spanish by Liliana Martínez Lomelí. Translation generated with AI from the original text.
Read in El Economista →