Longitudinal study of breastfeeding structure and women's work in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

It is well established that breast milk is the ideal food for infants and that breastfeeding has short- and long-term health benefits for the mother and child. However, there is variation in breastfeeding patterns between populations. Women's work is thought to influence breastfeeding patterns and timing of supplementation and it is often assumed that women in subsistence-oriented societies can more easily integrate their productive and reproductive activities. This article reports longitudinal data, collected in three rounds (resguardo [<40 days], peak [2-4 months], and late [14-16 months] lactation), on breastfeeding structure, infant care, and work patterns of 17 rural Amazonian women in an effort to understand how breastfeeding structure and maternal time allocation changed over time, as well as the strategies women used to integrate their productive and reproductive roles. Women breastfed 10.6 ± 3.1, 9.4 ± 3.4, and 9.6 ± 5.5 times per 9-h period in the three rounds, respectively. Breastfeeding structure, specifically session duration, changed over time (P < 0.05). As lactation progressed, women spent less time breastfeeding and in infant care and more time in subsistence work. In peak lactation, subsistence work was negatively correlated with infant care (r = -0.4, P = 0.01), breastfeeding (r = -0.29, P = 0.05) and session duration (r = -0.39, P < 0.01) and in late lactation was negatively correlated with time spent breastfeeding (r = -0.39, P < 0.01) and in infant care (r = -0.50, P < 0.01) and positively correlated with inter-session interval (r = 0.40, P < 0.01). Generally, women reduced time in subsistence work when breastfeeding was more intense and returned to normal activity patterns once infants were being supplemented. The costs and benefits associated with women's strategies are discussed.

Sex‐biased weaning and early childhood diet among middle holocene hunter–gatherers in Central California

“…Breast milk is a significant energetic investment for a mother. It can negatively impact her health, require her to work harder to obtain calories, take away from time she could be working (opportunity costs), and decrease her ability to get pregnant again, lowering her fertility and overall fitness, as well as that of her male partner (Delgado et al, 1982;Borgerhoff-Mulder, 1992;Riordan, 2005;Sellen, 2006;Piperata and Mattern, 2011). On the other hand, breast milk provides a child with a reliable and easily digestible source of calories and nutrients.…”

Modernization is associated with intensive breastfeeding patterns in the Bolivian Amazon

“…However, widespread variation in BF practices is evident even among “traditional breastfeeding populations” (Piperata & Gooden Mattern, 2011; Gray, 1995; Vitzthum, 1992) This should be expected as a suite of individual, cultural, economic, and ecological factors ultimately influence individual infants’ needs and individual mothers’ beliefs, perceptions, and constraints (Dettwyler, 1986; McDade & Worthman, 1998). Observable practices in extant traditional BF populations may also be rapidly changing due to outside contact and influences on local economies, values, and beliefs.…”

“…When non-industrialized societies begin to acculturate, subsequent transitions often occur in subsistence, diet, market integration, epidemiology, demography, and formalized education (Coimbra et al, 2002; Godoy et al, 2007; Malina et al, 2008; Nyberg, 2009; Piperata et al, 2011; Valeggia et al, 2010). These transitions often proceed in a prolonged and piecemeal fashion; for example, market foods and modern medicine may become accessible to villages still lacking in basic sanitation and public health infrastructure.…”

Child development, physiological stress and survival expectancy in prehistoric fisher-hunter-gatherers from the Jabuticabeira II shell mound, South Coast of Brazil

“…Considering an expected delay between the introduction of infected foods and the period of effective deterioration of health, the age pattern of infant mortality approximately coincides with the introduction of the supplementary diet (between 4 and 6 months) and the adult diet (after 2-3 years), as estimated by isotopic analyses [87]. A slow height growth throughout the first 3 years of life can also be attributed to diets with low energetic quality, regardless of enough protein intakes [122].…”