Styles of Infant Feeding: Parental/Caretaker Control of Food Consumption in Young Children

Abstract

patterns. These studies have looked at such variables as breastfeeding and weaning practices, the age when solid foods are introduced, which foods are appropriate for children, the age at weaning, the use of infant formula, overall dietary adequacy, and socioeconomic and demographic determinants. The studies employ a variety of research techniques, types of data, and underlying theoretical models, which lead to different policy implications concerning how to improve the nutritional status of young children. Some studies identify food availability and/or poverty as the primary determinants of infant-feeding patterns and therefore nutritional status (cf. Raphael and Davis 1985). Others highlight normative beliefs that limit children's access to protein sources, leading to malnutrition (Lepowsky 1985, 1987; Pettigrew 1982) or intrafamilial patterns of food distribution that lead to higher rates of morbidity and mortality for women and children generally and for female children in particular (Daniggelis 1987; McKee 1984; Pettigrew 1982; Piwoz and Viteri 1985). Several recent studies focusing on child neglect and abuse have described feeding practices in contexts where caretakers purposefully withhold food to hasten a child's death