ABSTRACT
This chapter is dedicated to the perception and management of risks related to breastfeeding, such as weight stagnation, weight loss, or weight gain deemed insufficient by midwives. In cases of out-of-hospital birth, midwives alone evaluate a newborn’s health and development during the immediate postpartum period. If home birth users and practitioners perceive hospital risk management as invasive and potentially harmful, how do independent midwives establish their own model of risk management, and how do they negotiate the implementation of interventions with parents in cases of failure to thrive? Home birth parents create their own risk-perception model, which manifests in specific breastfeeding practices, such as bed-sharing, as well as controversial infant care choices regarding official health guidelines, such as non-vaccination. Based on the author’s observations, independent midwives support these practices, even though they are considered deviant from a biomedical perspective. This approach reflects an emotional perspective and attitude towards risk management considering parents’ sensibilities, midwives acting consistently with parents’ feelings as much as their own. When parents are supported by their midwives but criticised by other biomedical health professionals, tension arises between home birth parents’ practices and the dominant risk culture.
