| Abstract: |
Studies of prehistoric patterns of health and disease focus on interpretations of the evidence from hard tissue remains of past peoples. These interpretations are based on observations of living peoples and the sources of stress which may be expected to leave a record in their bones and teeth. One presumed source of stress that as received wide attention in the recent literature is weaning. \bThe process of weaning is often associated with elevated risks of infant mortality and morbidity because infants no longer receive passive immunity from their mothers, and they are exposed to new sources of infection through the weaning diet.\b The process of weaning has also been tied to the duration of the contraceptive effects of nursing and the return of fecundity, which in turn provides information about birth spacing and population growth. Recently some of the basic assumptions about nursing and weaning, and their effects on morbidity, mortality and population growth, have been challenged, based on new technical and cross-cultural information. It is clear from the demographic literature that some studies based on skeletal samples tend to be too simplistic in terms of the causes of infant morbidity and mortality. \bThis paper reviews current research which relates weaning and infant mortality to health and reproduction in past populations and evaluates studies of enamel hypoplasia and bone chemistry for reconstructing infant feeding practices in the past. \b Attempts to explain cross-cultural and temporal variation in human populations pg 179 The bone chemistry literature varies since one of the chemical indicators of infant diet (strontium-calcium ratios) reflects the introduction of other foods, while the other (nitrogen stable isotope ratios) reflects the cessation of breastfeeding. Weaning is a process not an event, the introduction of other foods and reduction of dependence on breast milk, and differentiate this from complete weaning which is the cessation of breastfeeding. pg 180 The relationship between child mortality and feeding cannot be fully understood without considering the quality of food (including water) itself, as well as the child's micro- and macroenvironment. In fact, the quality of food available to infants and children repesents an important path through which the environment acts upon their health and must be considered as important as breastfeeding or the provision of safe water supplies and sanitation.
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