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Becoming a mother is most often described as something natural and the qualities to be a mother is presupposed to exist in every woman. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study with the research question as to whether the image of ‘the good mother’ can be found in women's stories of becoming mothers. The data was collected through one group interview and two individual interviews and analyzed with Charmaz constructivist grounded theory as a method. In the analysis we found four theoretical codes that together answer our research questions. The result shows that there is still an ideal type of ‘the good mother’ after which women build their own identity as a mother. / Att bli mamma beskrivs ofta som något naturligt och egenskaperna att vara en god moder förutsätts existera i varje kvinna. Studiens syfte var att undersöka huruvida bilden av “den goda modern” kunde ses i kvinnors berättelser av att bli mödrar. Data samlades in genom en gruppintervju och två individuella intervjuer och analyserades med Charmaz konstruktivistiska grundade teori som metod. I analysen hittades fyra teoretiska koder som tillsammans svarar på forskningsfrågorna. Resultatet visar att det fortfarande finns en idealtyp av "den goda modern", varefter kvinnor skapar sin egen identitet som mamma.

During this unique moment of feminist inquiry wherein breastfeeding has been a focal point of interdisciplinary research, little sociological scholarship has been presented which has centered on the various meanings that African American mothers, as a diverse group, attach to their experiences with breastfeeding and/or infant formula use. While patterns of behavior have been explored in a cross-racial context, most social science studies have not focused on how the choice between breastfeeding, using infant formula, or using a combination of the two has impacted (or has been shaped by) African American mothers’ constructs of self, motherhood/mothering, their birth experiences, and their sexuality. In order to understand the interplay of the decision-making process and these constructs, I conducted a qualitative study in which I participated in face-to-face interviews with a diverse group of thirty African-American mothers. They ranged in age from 18 years-old to 50-years-old. At the time of her interview, each mother had at least one child who was three-years-old or younger. Through our discussions, we explored how pre-pregnancy perceptions, lived experiences as a mother, familial influences, and the discourses surrounding motherhood within an African-American context affected the perceptions and experiences that the mothers in the study had with their infant feeding practice(s). Findings suggest that while African Americans mothers know that “breast is best,” that knowledge is not the only reason for their decisions. The first step in understanding why African-American mothers choose the feeding method(s) that they choose is embracing the reality that choosing is an ongoing and dynamic process which is often informed by what she does versus “is supposed to do” versus how she is portrayed weighed with the consequences of her choice(s) for herself and her family. Further, African American mothers are in the active process of negotiating an evolving definition of themselves within this post-Civil Rights, Affirmative Action context wherein choices appear abundant, but the choosing always comes with a price.