SES and cultural effects of BF

Question 1

SES breastfeeding

Answer 1

Skafida 2009-
Mothers from more privileged social classes and those with more educational qualifications resulted as more likely to breast-feed. However, maternal education was a better and more robust predictor of breast-feeding take-up compared with social class. (education is very important!!!)

Question 2

girl/boy effect/ sibling effect

Answer 2

• The chance of exclusive breastfeeding till 6 months was
  55% less for the female children when compared to male
  children
• 50% less in higher SES
• 90% less in lowest SES (Angadi & Jawaregowda, 2015).
• Son preference = limited breastfeeding of girl children in
  order to try to have a son (Jayachandran & Kuziemko,
  2011)

Question 3

cultural pressures

Answer 3

National Family and Health Survey Data, 2015 (Dutta et
al., 2022)
* Girls have 19% less chance of exclusive breastfeeding
than boys.
* Birth order and sex composition of siblings are important
determinants feeding practices.
* EG: If the last-born child is a girl, she has a 26% lower
chance of being exclusively breastfed in a household
that already has two or more daughters.
* BUT if she is born in a family that has two sons then the
chances of fair treatment in access to minimum dietary
diversity are 16% higher

Question 4

empowering women study

Answer 4

Dutta et al., 2022

showed videos of women breastfeeding- education
findings- Increase in exclusive BF by 42% for girls & 38% for boys

Question 5

critisms and methodological challenges in BF research-

Answer 5

Confounding Variables
Many studies struggle to account for confounding factors, such as maternal health, SES, and parental feeding practices, which also influence obesity risk.
Reverse causation may occur if mothers of larger infants are more likely to introduce formula early.

Cultural and Socio-Economic Factors
In some contexts, breastfeeding is more prevalent among higher SES groups, who also tend to have healthier lifestyles overall. This may exaggerate the perceived benefits of breastfeeding.

Variability in Obesity Definitions
Differences in how obesity is measured (e.g., BMI vs. body composition) across studies make it challenging to draw definitive conclusions about the magnitude of the protective effect.

we also cannot do randomised control trials as it is not ethical