In-depth study of breastfeeding structure: New data from Mali

A number of variables, including ethnic affiliation, time of day, infant and maternal ages, and infant dietary supplementation, are used to compare their effects on breastfeeding structure of two groups of rural Malian women. The agro-fishing Bozo and the transhumant pastoralist Fulbe live in the Inner Niger Delta of Mall. On-demand breastfeeding is practiced by these groups. Lactation continues throughout the infant's second year of life and often into the third. Comparisons are made with data from other traditional societies to highlight differences in breastfeeding structure and its determinants. Ethnic affiliation does not have any significant effect on nursing variables, and the suckling patterns of the Fulbe and Bozo women are comparable in this study. Suckling activity does not vary according to time of day, although individual women exhibit different temporal patterns of nursing behavior. Infant age is significantly and negatively correlated to session duration. As infants get older and their diets are supplemented with food other than breastmilk, their appetites decrease and, consequently, they suckle less. However, there is much individual variation in this relationship, and it is argued that the decrease in suckling due to supplementation may be offset by an increase in suckling due to infants demanding the breast for physical affection. Maternal age, in contrast, is not correlated with any nursing variable in this study. This indicates that there is no decrease in physiological capacity to provide milk and that access to surrogate caretakers is either not correlated with maternal age, or is not a strategy employed by these women. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.