Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T05:13:40.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparison of effects of breast-feeding practices on birth-spacing in three societies: nomadic Turkana, Gainj, and Quechua

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Sandra J. Gray
Sandra J. Gray
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Variation in the duration and pattern of breast-feeding contributes significantly to inter-population differences in fertility. In this paper, measures of suckling frequency and intensity are used to compare the effects of breastfeeding practices on the duration of lactational amenorrhoea, and on the length of the birth interval in three prospective studies undertaken during the 1980s, among Quechua Indians of Peru, Turkana nomads of Kenya, and Gainj of Papua New Guinea.

In all three societies, lactation is prolonged well into the second year postpartum, and frequent, on-demand breast-feeding is the norm. However, the duration of lactational amenorrhoea and the length of birth intervals vary considerably. Breast-feeding patterns among Gainj and Turkana are similar, but Turkana women resume menses some 3 months earlier than do the Gainj. The average birth interval among the Gainj exceeds that of nomadic Turkana by over 15 months. Suckling activity decreases significantly with increasing age of nurslings among both Gainj and Quechua, but not among Turkana. Earlier resumption of menses among Turkana women may be linked to the unpredictable demands of the pastoral system, which increase day-to-day variation in the number of periods of on-demand breast-feeding, although not in suckling patterns. This effect is independent of the age of infants.

The short birth intervals of Turkana women, relative to those of the Gainj, may be related to early supplementation of Turkana nurslings with butterfat and animals' milk, which reduces energetic demands on lactating women at risk of negative energy balance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 69 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © 1994, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adair, L. (1984) Marginal intake and maternal adaptation: the case of rural Taiwan. In: Energy Intake and Activity. Edited by Pollitt, E. & Amante, P.Liss, New York.Google Scholar
Brainard, J. (1981) Herders to Farmers: The Effects of Settlement on the Demography of the Turkana Population of Kenya. Phd thesis, State University of New York, Binghamton.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. L. & Wood, J. W. (1988) Fertility in traditional societies. In: Natural Human Fertility: Social and Biological Determinants, p. 39 Edited by Diggory, P., Potts, M. & Teper, S.Macmillan, Basingstoke.Google Scholar
Coughenhour, M. B., Ellis, J. E., Swift, D. M., Coppock, D. L., Galvin, K., Mccabe, J. T. & Hart, T. C. (1985) Energy extraction and use in a nomadic pastoral ecosystem. Science 230, 619.Google Scholar
Dyson-Hudson, R. (1989) Ecological influences on systems of food production and social organization of South Turkana pastoralists. In: Comparative Socioecology: The Behavioral Ecology of Humans and Other Mammals, p. 165 Edited by Standen, V. & Foley, R. A.Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Dyson-Hudson, R.Mccabe, J. T. (1985) South Turkana Nomadism: Coping with and Unpredictably Varying Environment. Iraflex Books Ethnography Series, New Haven.Google Scholar
Ellis, J. E.Swift, D. M. (1988) Stability of African pastoral ecosystems: alternate paradigms and implications for development. J. Range Management., 4, 450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellison, P. T. (1990) Human ovarian function and reproductive ecology: new hypotheses.Am. Anthrop. 92, 933.Google Scholar
Finney, D. J. (1971) Probit Analysis, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gray, S. J. (1992a) Infant Care and Feeding Practices among Nomadic Turkana Pastoralists of Northwest Kenya: Implications for Fertility and for Child Survival. Phd thesis, State University of New York, Binghamton.Google Scholar
Gray, S. J. (1992b) Fertility levels and birth spacing among a group of breastfeeding Ngisonyoka Turkana women. Am. J. phys. Anthropol. Supplement. 14, 84.Google Scholar
Hennart, P.Hofvander, Y.Vis, H.Robyn, C. (1985) Comparative study of nursing mothers in Africa (Zaire) and in Europe (Sweden): breast–feeding behavior, nutritional status lactational hyperprolactinaemia and status of the menstrual cycle. Clin. Endocr. 22, 179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, R. E. (1988) Return to menses postpartum in rural Indonesian women. Hum. Biol. 60 853.Google ScholarPubMed
Jones, R. E. (1990) The effect of initiation of child supplementation on resumption of postpartum menstruation. J. biosoc. Sci. 22 173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leslie, P. W. & Fry, P. H. (1989) Extreme seasonality of births among nomadic Turkana pastoralists. Am. J. phys. Anthropol. 79, 103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, M. A. & Johnson, B. R. (1985) Weather conditions in South Turkana, Kenya. In: South Turkana Nomadism: Coping with an Unpredictably Varying Environment. Edited by Dyson-Hudson, R. & McCabe, J. F.Hraf New Haven.Google Scholar
Lunn, P. G., Prentice, A. M., Austin, S. & Whitehead, R. G. (1980) Influence of maternal diet on plasma prolactin levels during lactation. Lancet, 1, 13.Google Scholar
McNeilly, A. S., Howie, P W. & Glasier, A. (1988) Lactation and the return of ovulation. In: Natural Human Fertility: Social and Biological Determinants, p. 102. Edited by Diggory, P., Potts, M. & Teper, S.Macmillan, Basingstoke.Google Scholar
Panter-Brick, C. (1989) Motherhood and subsistence work: the Tamang of rural Nepal. Hum. Ecol. 17, 205.Google Scholar
Panter-Brick, C. (1991) Lactation, birth spacing and maternal workloads among two castes in rural Nepal. J. biosoc. Sci. 23, 137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Popkin, B. M., Laskey, T., Litvin, J., Spicer, D.Yamamoto, M. E. (1986) The Infant Feeding Triad. Gordon & Breach, New york.Google Scholar
Prentice, A. M. (1984) Adaptations to long—term low energy intake. In: Energy Intake and Activity. Edited by Pollitt, E., Amante, P. & Alan, R.Liss, New York.Google Scholar
Vitzthum, V. J. (1988) Variation in infant feeding practices in an Andean community. Mich.Stud. Andean Anthropol. Mich. Disc. Anthropol. 8, 137.Google Scholar
Vitzthum, V. J. (1989) Nursing behaviour and its relation to duration of postpartum amenorr—hoea in an Andean community. J. biosoc. Sci. 21, 145.Google Scholar
Wood, J. L.(1989) Fecundity and natural fertility in humans. 11. Edited by Milligan, S.Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google ScholarPubMed
Wood, J. W., Johnson, P. L.Campbell, K. L. (1985a) Demographic and endocrinologicalaspects of low natural fertility in highland New Guinea. J. biosoc. Sci.17, 57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, J. W., Lai, D., Johnson, P. L., Campbell, K. L. & Maslar, I. A. (1985b) Lactation and birth spacing in highland New Guinea. J. biosoc. Sci. Suppl. 9, 159.Google Scholar