Introduction: It is about time

Over the past century infant feeding practices within industrialised countries have become increasingly institutionally regulated and notions of how best to feed a baby have become ideologically pervasive. Authoritative knowledge on infant feeding has been constructed, reconstructed and dismantled, sometimes settling for a time, then moving on and shifting. Women’s (re)productive experiences have been reconstituted and reconfigured within a profoundly medicalised setting, the hospital. Within this setting infant feeding practices may be regulated, supervised and controlled.