Is that really helping? Critical analysis of breastfeeding support in the UK from an evolutionary perspective

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Emily Emmott (University College London)
• Wednesday 25 April 2018, 16:30-17:30
• Seminar Room, Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Biological Anthropology, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Jaap Saers.

While the public health literature demonstrates a positive association between social support and breastfeeding, it has broadly overlooked the different types of support (such as informational, emotional and practical) and the different sources of support (partners, parents, friends, professionals). However, breastfeeding in developed populations are no longer obligate maternal investment behaviour: it can be replaced/supplemented by formula, introducing opportunities for allomothers to substitute infant feeding. With this, following an evolutionary anthropological perspective, I theorise that different types of support may not necessarily improve breastfeeding outcomes. In some instances, what is conceptualised as supportive in the public health sphere may not actually be supportive for mothers. To test these ideas, I provide evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study and present preliminary findings from an online survey of UK mothers.

This talk is part of the Biological Anthropology Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Biological Anthropology Seminars and Events
• Biological Anthropology Seminar Series
• Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise
• Neurons, Fake News, DNA and your iPhone: The Mathematics of Information
• Seminar Room, Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Biological Anthropology, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG
• ji247's list

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.