Infant nutrition and the consequences of differential market access in Nuñoa, Peru

Abstract

Observational and interview data provide the basis for an analysis of infant feeding behavior in a rural Andean community. Generally, infants were first nursed within 48 hours of birth; co‐sleeping—and probably night‐nursing—continued far longer than day nursing; exclusive bottle‐use or exclusive nursing were very rare. Weaning was an extended process of continually modified feeding routines, rather than an abrupt event. There were significant differences in the feeding practices of poor and relatively less‐poor mothers that may have had health benefits for the infants of the latter women but may have been deleterious for poorer women's offspring. In particular, the quality of infant foods was a primary avenue by which economic variation influenced breastfeeding duration and, hence, infant health and maternal fecundity.