
Improving Breastfeeding Rates
Evolutionary Anthropological Insights for Public Health
Emily H. Emmott(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 23. February 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
62 pages
978-1-009-21748-4 (ISBN)
Description
Breastfeeding is championed as an effective way to improve global health, associated with improved health outcomes for children and mothers. Various public health strategies to promote breastfeeding have been developed and implemented for over four decades, yet progress has stagnated, and exclusive breastfeeding rates remain low globally. From an evolutionary anthropological perspective, low breastfeeding rates seem like an 'evolutionary puzzle'; breastfeeding is a behaviour which confers survival and fitness advantage to children and mothers, yet so many mothers do not breastfeed exclusively or at all. Is this a globally maladaptive behaviour? Framing breastfeeding as a maternal investment behaviour, an evolutionary perspective directs us to consider the fitness costs of breastfeeding, together with the role of social learning and cultural norms. Indeed, an evolutionary anthropological perspective provides insights to why some breastfeeding-promotion strategies may have been ineffective, while pointing to potentially promising policies and practices which have been overlooked
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 3 mm
Weight
95 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-21748-4 (9781009217484)
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Additional editions

Emily H. Emmott
Improving Breastfeeding Rates
Evolutionary Anthropological Insights for Public Health
E-Book
02/2023
Cambridge University Press
€20.99
Available for download
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Content
1. Introduction: Breastfeeding as a Public Health Issue; 2. Why are Breastfeeding Rates so Low? A Public Health Perspective; 3. Breastfeeding from an Evolutionary Anthropological Perspective; 4. Can Evolutionary Anthropology Help Improve Breastfeeding Rates?; 5. Conclusion.