Yet another point of view. I saw the Neanderthal show twice and was
fascinated. I thought breastfeeding was essentially presented in a very
positive way, indicating that Neanderthal children were breastfeed for
around 5 years and had no negative impressions. According to the
narrative, there has been evidence to indicate that infanticide was not
uncommon and that < 50% of children survived to age 5, I believe. In any
case, in the 'clan' they showed, when the mother delivered -
specifically in the winter - this created a problem for the survival of
the clan as a whole. Yes, the mother seemed very uncomfortable and
unnatural breastfeeding but it did seem that there were loving looks.
However, my impression was that she turned away from the newborn because
she knew it would not be allowed to survive - a male member of the clan
(I thought) took it from her and killed it.

I didn't find any implication that childbearing was negative because of
the hardships it imposed. Childbearing does impose hardships and we're
very fortunate to live in a time in history when infant mortality is so
low. My impression was that they were trying to be as realistic as
possible, recognizing that they were hypothesizing - but based on some
evidence.

Also, it was pointed out that Neanderthals existed for 250,000 years;
nothing to sneeze at. Homo sapiens have only been around so far for
30,000. What seemed particularly interesting was that, so far, DNA
testing has not identified Neanderthal in our population. However, there
were remains of a 4 year old skeleton from thousands of years after
Neanderthal extinction that appeared to be a hybrid - Cro-magnon facies
but Neanderthal body.

Joan Edelstein, DrPH, RN
Professor of Maternity Nursing
San Jose State University
Perinatal Education Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente, Hayward
(Baby Friendly)

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