Asians breast feeding

Background: The feeding method of neonates and babies and, especially, the issue of breastfeeding is one of the most important for public health. Aim: The present study attempted a bibliographic review of the studies about cultural practices and beliefs for breastfeeding. The research question focused on whether cultural and social standards lead up to what degree a process as breastfeeding is accepted by the mothers in a society. Method: We studied all articles at the period in the Pubmed which associated the initiation and duration of breastfeeding with the cultural status of a certain society. The key-words were society, breastfeeding, initiation, duration, cultural status.

Breastfeeding is widely believed to carry significant health advantages for infants and the American Academy of Pediatrics AAP would like to see all mothers breastfeed their children for at least 12 months, with no supplemental food for the first six. Breastfeeding, however, is a big job. Even if a newborn takes to breastfeeding without any problems some mothers struggle mightily with less-than-cooperative infants , mothers must feed their children around the clock they now recommend every two hours, hours a day for newborns. Mothers who have the privilege to stay home with their babies — for three, six, or even twelve months — then, are going to find it much easier to follow the AAP guidelines. For mothers who return to work, those who work in flexible positions that award some degree of autonomy and respect will also be more likely to continue breastfeeding.

As an expectant mother, Weber occasionally found herself navigating parenting and breastfeeding resources alone. Shortly after giving birth to her son, she also realized there was a generational divide when she reached out for breastfeeding or parental advice from her mom. Somewhere between my mom being born, and me being born, the culture shifted to one where formula was viewed as better than breast milk or even more of a status symbol where only poor women breastfed. Weber, who was born in Mumbai, India, learned that her mom was encouraged by elders in the family to breastfeed her and her sister for six months. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends infants be exclusively breastfed for about six months and then breastfed with the addition of complementary foods for an additional year or more.

Breastfeeding is a hot button issue, that's certain. There's a lot of venom thrown on all sides, and it's hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes. But what's it like in other places, like China or India? What's breastfeeding like in Asia in general? To quantify one piece of motherhood into a neat little graph would be doing it a major disservice.