carol, the point you are making about violence and breastfeeding is correct
but I think Rwanda is not a good example.  I think many of us have this
illusion that in Africa everyone exclusively breastfeeds, etc.  But the truth
is that in many African nations exclusive breastfeeding is not the norm.
Water and cereals are introduced as early as 2 weeks.  Formula is used.  I
believe that because Rwanda was at one time a part of the Belgium Congo and
because it was once(prior to the genocide)one of the most aided countries in
the world, it is very likely that exclusive breastfeeding was not the norm.
The possibility is that this nation adopted the norms of the colonists.
Various anthroplogists have studied violence in cultures.  I remember a book
by Margaret Mead that looked at various cultures around the world(the violent
and non-violent).  If I remember correctly it seemed like the cultures that
were most violent were male-dominated with inheritance through the male line,
less skin-to-skin contact with infants, weaning was abrupt(some cultures that
was the time the child would be taken away from the mother to another
family/village).  The Spartans, a war-like culture, were breastfed.  It is
obviously more than the act of breastfeeding that keeps violence at bay.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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