An embodied struggle of visibility in all its invisibility – mothers’ lived experiences of oversupply of breastmilk during breastfeeding in Sweden

Abstract Background Breastfeeding difficulties can awaken a sense of existential vulnerability. One difficulty is oversupply of breastmilk, which is typically described from a medical perspective, while there is a lack of research on the lived experiences of this and on how it affects mothers existentially. This study’s aim is therefore to describe breastfeeding mothers’ lived experiences of oversupply of breastmilk during breastfeeding. Methods A reflective lifeworld research approach was used during the whole research process. Individual lifeworld interviews were conducted with 17 mothers in Sweden with lived experiences of oversupply of breastmilk during breastfeeding. Results The results of this study illuminate the meaning of oversupply of breastmilk during breastfeeding as it is experienced by breastfeeding mothers. The essential meaning can be described as an embodied struggle of visibility in all its invisibility . This captures the bodily and existential experience of navigating between being seen and unseen, further described in the following constituents: being trapped in a milk-producing body, being powerless in a vulnerable breastfeeding situation, being insufficient as a mother, and struggling in loneliness. Conclusions From a caring science perspective, this study contributes important knowledge which can help in developing caring practices. The results highlight that oversupply of breastmilk during breastfeeding is an existential phenomenon, with existential dimensions, that affects a mother’s life in a demanding and challenging way when it comes to being a mother. Here the idea of abjection acts as a barrier, in which the uncontrollability of the breastmilk can create an aversion towards one’s body, one’s breastmilk and breastfeeding. There is a risk that these existential dimensions may remain hidden or unspoken if the mother does not dare talk about it and/or the caregiver does not understand that it needs to be discussed. Lifeworld-led care presents an opportunity in which the lived experience is the focus of the caring and the existential is allowed to come to the fore alongside the medical. The intertwining of these two aspects has the potential to contribute to caring that supports and strengthens health and well-being in an existentially challenging and demanding breastfeeding situation.