Breastfeeding woman or lactating object? A critical philosophical discussion on the influence of Cartesian dualism on breastfeeding in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Future research from a more critical lens is needed to examine the complex dynamics involved when nurses and mothers are negotiating decisions and processes related to infant feeding. In focusing on the relational dimensions of the breastfeeding experience, nurses can resist the dualistic influence and dominant discourses impacting infant feeding and motherhood in the 21st century.