Health Education Journal 72(2) 156–162 © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0017896912437295 hej.sagepub.com h e j 437295HEJ 72 2 10.1177/0017896912437295Condon et al.Health Education Journal 2012 Corresponding author: L Condon, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1DD, UK Email: Louise.Condon@uwe.ac.uk ‘But is it a normal thing?’ Teenage mothers’ experiences of breastfeeding promotion and support L Condon a , C Rhodes b , S Warren b , J Withall c and A Tapp b a Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of the West of England, UK b Marketing, Bristol Business School, UWE, UK c Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Bristol, UK Abstract Aim: To explore teenagers’ experiences of the breastfeeding promotion and support delivered by health professionals. Design: A qualitative study conducted in an English city. Methods: Pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers (n = 29) took part in semi-structured interviews and focus groups between March and July 2009. Results: Breastfeeding is presented by health professionals as incontrovertibly the best choice of feeding method, but teenagers experience an array of conflicting norms which influence their infant feeding choices and behaviours. Conclusions: The social barriers to continuing breastfeeding are insufficiently recognized and addressed by health professionals. It is likely that teenage mothers would breastfeed for longer if they perceived that breastfeeding was a normal way to feed baby in their social milieu. Keywords breastfeeding, health promotion, infant feeding, teenage mothers Introduction Breastfeeding rates in the United Kingdom (UK) are among the lowest in Europe despite evidence that increased breastfeeding benefits child and maternal health in both the short and long term. 1,2 Encouraging breastfeeding is a key part of the Healthy Child Programme, 3 which promotes exclu- sive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. It is recognized that the benefits of breastfeeding Article