I'm teaching a course this fall titled "The Evolution of Human Sex Roles and
Reproductive Behavior."  One of the books we are using is an edited volume,
Adaptation and Human Behavior (2000) by my friend Lee Cronk (professor at
Rutgers now, used to be at A&M with me).  One of the chapters, by Barry
Hewlett and colleagues, compares parenting strategies among Aka foragers
(hunters and gatherers of the Central African Republic), their farmer
neighbors the Ngandu, and Euro-American Urban-Industrialists living near
Washington DC.

They describe the feeding patterns of the 3 different groups thusly (the
infants were 3-4 months old when observers spent 3 hours on four different
days for a total of 12 hours of observation):

"There were no group differences in the total amounts of time infants were
fed, but there were dramatic differences in how often mothers fed their
infants (all Aka and Ngandu infants were breast-fed; Euro-Americans were
breast-fed and bottle-fed).  Aka mothers fed their infants significantly
more often than did Ngandu and Euro-Americans (Aka 4.02 times per hour,
Ngandu 2.01 times per hour, and Euro-Americans 1.61 times per hour)."

Me again:  I'm struck by how frequently the Euro-Americans were feeding
their infants.  Notice that from the way it is phrased, you can't tell if
all the babies are mixed-fed or if some were exclusively breastfed and
others exclusively bottle-fed.


Anyway . . . just in the for what it's worth category.

Kathy Dettwyler





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