The cultural context of breastfeeding and breastfeeding policy

Abstract

Breastfeeding is not instinctive behaviour but is dependent on learning and is, therefore, influenced by social and cultural factors. Thus, the social sciences as well as the biological sciences should be engaged in explanatory research about breastfeeding. To rebuild breastfeeding cultures to protect, support, and promote breastfeeding, a biocultural model of breastfeeding and child care that takes a broader view of culture must be developed: a view that attends more to differences than similarities, that provides more detailed contingencies of context, that is more sensitive to the forces that constrain women's lives, and that can be more directly linked to policy-making. This article explores the interdisciplinary nature of breastfeeding research and suggests some areas where anthropological theory and method could be put to better use to ask new research and policy questions about breastfeeding.