Breastfeeding

Cecília Tomori is an anthropologist and Director of Global Public Health and Community Health at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, USA.Aunchalee E. L. Palmquist is Assistant Professor of Maternal and Child Health at the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA.EA Quinn is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, USA.

"Truly everything one could ever want to know about anthropological approaches to breastfeeding in the early 21st century, this volume includes cutting-edge research with multiple views from biological and sociocultural anthropologists and bioarchaeologists. It moves the discussion far beyond ‘breast is best’ and ‘it’s only natural’ and represents the very best of contemporary biocultural perspectives in anthropology. A ‘must read’ for health care providers, breastfeeding activists, policy makers, and everyone concerned about maternal and infant health." - Wenda Trevathan, New Mexico State University, USA"This compelling, challenging and illuminating book brings together cutting-edge research from the sub-fields of biological, bioarchaeological, and sociocultural anthropology, focusing upon human lactation, breastfeeding and breastmilk sharing. The integration of biological and sociocultural perspectives not only enhances our understanding but also provides ways forward for improving policy and practice in the field of breastfeeding." - Fiona Dykes, University of Central Lancashire, UK"Breastfeeding: New Anthropological Approaches provides a superbly-executed addition to research which should merit a place in the library of any scholar interested in the application of anthropological perspectives to understanding the dynamics of mother infant relationships." - Ellen Kendall in Childhood in the Past

• Foreword: Translating conversations: bridging biological and social approaches to breastfeeding 1. Introduction: towards new anthropologies of breastfeeding 2. Beyond passive immunity: breastfeeding, milk and collaborative mother-infant immune systems 3. Consuming immunities: milk sharing and the social life of passive immunity 4. Breastsleeping in four cultures: comparative analysis of a biocultural body technique 5. “Natural, like my hair”: conceptualizations of breastfeeding among African American women 6. Breastfeeding and body size 7. Mothers, milk, and morals: peer milk sharing as moral motherwork in Central Florida 8. Milk medium chain fatty acids and human evolution 9. Chestfeeding as gender fluid practice 10. Mixed-feeding in humans: evolution and current implications 11. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings: breastfeeding and weaning in the past 12. Shifting weanling’s optimum: breastfeeding ecology and infant health in Yucatán 13. New mothers’ breastfeeding expectations, challenges, and the return to employment 14. Understanding and enabling breastfeeding in the context of maternal-infant needs Afterword: Breastfeeding: in search of the right questions