Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives (Foundations of Human Behavior)

By Patricia Stuart-Macadam

Book Overview

Breastfeeding is a biocultural phenomenon: not only is it a biological process, but it is also a culturally determined behavior. As such, it has important implications for understanding the past, present, and future condition of our species. In general, scholars have emphasized either the biological or the cultural aspects of breastfeeding, but not both. As biological anthropologists the editors of this volume feel that an evolutionary approach combining both aspects is essential. One of the goals of their book is to incorporate data from diverse fields to present a more holistic view of breastfeeding, through the inclusion of research from a number of different disciplines, including biological and social/cultural anthropology, nutrition, and medicine. The resulting book, presenting the complexity of the issues surrounding very basic decisions about infant nutrition, will fill a void in the existing literature on breastfeeding.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0202011925
• ISBN13: 9780202011929
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

More women need to know this

I feel like the information in this book should be taught to all women- for their own health & the health of their children. I learned from this book to stop listening to all the people in my life that try to tell me what im doing with my child is wrong. I learned what im doing with my child is coming from my natural instincts as a human mother! Breastfeeding longer than one year is natural! Co-sleeping is natural! Refusing to let your child "cry-it-out" at nap/bed time is natural! This book has 100% validated my instictive feelings as a mother and I am so grateful for the knowledge. There is so much to learn from it. The sections about the natural spacing of children is very interesting. Along with all the history & medical studies about how many years to breastfeed a child & why. If you are a woman, an expecting mother, or even already a mother, I cant recommend this book enough. Breastfeeding is amazing and has so many health benefits for the child and mother. I wish more people knew about it.

An amazing book

No other breastfeeding book compares to this one. Every woman should read this book because the information contained within is invaluable. It gives background for how and why breastfeeding works like it does. It's powerful information not found in any other book I've read.

This book changed my life!!

This book has changed my life! There is so much evidence and sound facts about why it is so important for a child to be breastfed until the age of 2.5- 7 years of age that a person would have to be deaf, dumb & blind to at last not consider it. It is because of this book, that I am going to continue to exclusively pump for my son until the age of 5 (he never latched). I would highly recommend this book for any breastfeeding mother that is considering whether or not she should continue to breastfed beyond the age of 12 months. Read this book. It will change your life. When I read it, not only did I see how humans create their own destruction, I saw the face of God.

Biocultural BFing issues, important info on this subject

Breastfeeding: BioCultural Perspectives is a wonderful in depth look at the biological and cultural issues surrounding breastfeeding. It contains a close look at the biological history of breastfeeding, explaining how it is thought that breastfeeding has evolved to protect infants and children, why it is important to breastfeed, and how women in the distant past breastfed (or not) and the implications this may have held for their offspring.The book goes on to examine information about current breastfeeding practices in various parts of the world and the effect these practices seem to have had on their populations. Included are all of the cultural issues which serve to support or sever the breastfeeding relationship. Further, the book covers issues of: weaning (what is biologically and culturally normal and why they are so different), breast as a sexual object, demand feeding vs. scheduled feeding, co-sleeping and SIDS, fertility issues affected by breastfeeding, and breast cancer and reproductive biology.This book is a must read for those interested in more than just mechanical information about breastfeeding. It is also recommended reading for any attatchement style parent who is interested in a more biocultural view of why AP works. This book is not light reading, but is certainly accessible to anyone truly interested.

Can really sink your teeth into this!

This isn't for the average "consumer" of breastfeeding and parenting books- it won't give much practical advice. What it does is provide accurate, researched based information on what is currently known as "attachment parenting". I was led to "ap" by an endocrinology professor, ten years before I had children, and I learned from her that parenting can be interesting and fulfilling. I learned that there are parenting instincts- holding a baby, sleeping with the baby, not letting the baby cry... the various authors in this book reinforce that. I came away from these writings with a sense that mothering is important and has been throughout history, and that *children* are important. Sometimes I feel that gets lost in parenting books, especially the "mainstream" of Dobson, What to Expect, Ezzo... Dettwyler, et. al. show us that our children deserve better than that. I might even study anthropology someday. :-)