There is no lack of surveys showing that from a high rate of breastfeeding in the industrializing world of the early 20th century, after World War II the incidence declined to a nadir around 1960. For instance only a third of the infants in the US were given their own mothers' milk. The suckling of the new born is clearly not a natural instinct but needs to be taught and supported. Even if quantitative data is hard to come by for earlier centuries, there still is ample evidence that many mothers followed a tradition of not breastfeeding themselves, especially in the early 18th century. The reasons for this are partly economical, centered on the mother's heavy workload in non-industrial and energy-poor societies. But there are also cultural background factors behind the use of wetnurses and artificial nourishment, where medical, religious and sexual ideas blend into a persuasive set of motives imprinting in women that breastfeeding is undesirable. The sending of urban babies to wet-nurses in the countryside was in part motivated by the tough epidemic climate in the cities. Modern anthropological research shows how cultural and economic motives can be doubly effective by reinforcing each other. The paper hypothesizes that for Western Europe where we have the richest historical records there may have been a breastfeeding pattern with more extensive breastfeeding in the northern parts of the continent and more use of wet-nurses and artificial nourishment in the Catholic southern parts, and that this may be rooted in long-lasting cultural factors. In addition there may have a number of places (Iceland, the Fennoscandian Arctic) where women had difficulty breastfeeding consistently because of an especially heavy workload in a tough environment, and where this developed into normative behaviour.
This article summarizes aspects of the decline in infant mortality in the five Nordic countries. During the nineteenth century, both the levels of infant mortality and its development differed among the Nordic countries. At an early date, Denmark, Norway and Sweden stood out as the countries with the lowest levels in Europe whereas levels of infant mortality in Iceland and Finland were comparatively high. Within the countries there were large regional differences that often crossed national borders. Artificial feeding characterized most of the areas with the highest infant mortality. Within the different countries the high infant mortality came to be seen as a problem during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The spread of information, midwives as agents of change and high literacy are factors that have been proven important in explaining the subsequent decline.
Background: This article aims to understand the family planning (FP) knowledge and current use of contraception and its predictors among women of the Mru people-the most underprivileged indigenous community in Bangladesh. Methods: In this study, 374 currently married Mru women were interviewed and selected purposively from three upazilas (administrative subdistricts) of the Bandarban area, where most of the Mru people live. The association between the variables was assessed in bivariate analysis using the Chi-square test and binary logistic regression models were employed to explore the predictors of FP knowledge and current use of contraception among the Mru women. Results: Only about 40% of respondents had ever heard FP messages or about FP methods-two-fifths of the national figure (99.9%). The current use of contraception was much lower (25.1%) among the Mru people than at the national level (55.8%). Among both modern and traditional methods, the contraceptive pill ranked first. About two-thirds (66.0%) of married women used this method-more than two times than the national figure (28.5%). On the other hand, the prevalence of male methods was comparatively lower than at the national level. Logistic regression models revealed that place of residence, religion, age, school attendance, husband's school attendance, service provided in the community, distance to the service center, and exposure to mass media had significant effects on knowledge of FP and on use of contraception. Conclusion: Education for mothers and vernacular language-based doorstep FP programs with special emphasis on awareness are suggested for the community.
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