INSIDE THE MIND OF KATHY DETTWYLER
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  • Scholarly Publications (peer-reviewed)
    • 2004 "When to Wean: Biological vs. Cultural Perspectives" -- Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology
    • 1998-99 "Evolutionary Medicine & Breastfeeding: Implications for Research & Pediatric Advice" -- Skomp Lecture, Indiana Unversity
    • 1995 "Beauty & the Breast: The Cultural Context of Breastfeeding in the United States"
    • 1995 "A Time to Wean: The Hominid Blueprint for the Natural Age of Weaning in Modern Human Populations"
    • 1992 "Infant Feeding Practices and Growth" -- Annual Review of Anthropology; coauthored with Claudia Fishman
    • 1992 "Nutritional Status of Adults in Rural Mali"
    • 1991 "Paleopathology and Compassion" AJPA
    • 1989 "Styles of Infant Feeding: Parental/Caretaker Control of Food Consumption in Young Children" -- American Anthropologist
    • 1988 "More than Nutrition: Breastfeeding in Urban Mali" -- Medical Anthropology Quarterly
    • 1987 "Breastfeeding and Weaning in Mali: Cultural Context and Hard Data," Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 24, No. 8, pp. 633-644
    • 1986 "Infant Feeding in Mali, West Africa: Variations in Belief and Practice" SSM
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    Full text of article coming soon, with kind permission of the publisher!!

    Soc Sci Med. 1986;23(7):651-64.
    Infant feeding in Mali, West Africa: Variations in Belief and Practice.
    Dettwyler KA.

    Abstract

    Research conducted in Mali during 1982 and 1983 reveals a wide range of
    variation in both the growth and development of infants and infant feeding
    practices. Overall, growth patterns of the Malian children (N = 136) are similar
    to those reported for children in other West African urban or rural poor
    populations. However, the use of the averages of growth measures disguises the
    fact that some children are severely malnourished, while others are growing at
    or above the 50th percentile of NCHS standards. Socio-economic status, as an
    indicator of the family's financial ability to provide food and medical care,
    does not account for the variation in nutritional status. From a series of
    open-ended interviews with mothers, fathers and other relatives of children in
    the study, as well as observation of mealtimes, several fundamental beliefs
    regarding infant feeding can be identified: (1) a child does not need to eat
    solid food before approx. 8 months; (2) if a child is hungry, he will eat, if he
    does not want to eat he should not be forced to eat; and (3) only the child
    himself knows when he is hungry and when he is full. These beliefs are expressed
    in the community in a variety of specific practices and behaviors. Additionally,
    mothers differ with respect to the importance they attach to medical care for
    sick children. These various beliefs and practices concerning infant feeding
    and, tangentially, medical care, tend to form divergent clusters, which allows
    the ranking of women on a three level scale of 'maternal attitude.' In the
    sample, growth performance, as indicated by membership in 'low weight' or 'high
    weight' groups, is positively correlated with maternal attitude (Chi2 = 13.85, P
    = 0.001). It is clear that in Mali, the cultural belief system regarding infant
    feeding and the variations in implementation of this system reflected in
    maternal attitudes, play an important role in determining the nutritional status
    and growth patterns of children, primarily through their effect on diet, and
    secondarily through their effect on medical care. The data show that within the
    same general cultural framework, and in the face of abject poverty, subtle
    differences in maternal attitudes result in some children who thrive, while
    others suffer varying degrees of malnutrition.





    PMID:
    3775447
      [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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