Resisting and constructing the good mother ideal: negotiation and knowledge in interactions between mothers and child health nurses

In this paper we analyse mothers’ and child health nurses’ negotiations around conformity and resistance to the dominant discourse of the good mother, with a specific focus on the use of knowledge and authority in interaction. We draw upon data generated through 12 observations of consultations between child health nurses and low-income mothers and fathers, 12 interviews with child health nurses and 13 interviews with low-income mothers. Many interactions affirmed the importance of following expert knowledge, but we also find evidence of resistance by mothers, who privilege their experiential knowledge over medical knowledge. This resistance de-stabilises expert knowledge without re-constituting the good mother discourse.