Principles that guide weaning in rural Mexico

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Abstract
Women in two Mexican villages use principles conveyed by oral tradition to guide their decisions about weaning. They do not blindly follow unarticulated beliefs, as implied by other studies. The principles that guide weaning inform a mother of the effect of continued lactation, under specific conditions, on the child at certain stages of biological and psychological development. Villagers and physicians have more similar views of weaning than previously understood; both make conscious weaning decisions based on maternal and child health. Villagers’ decisions are situational rather than determined by the child's chronological age. The outcome, according to lactation histories of 285 women, is a heterogeneous pattern of ages at stopping breastfeeding — mean ages ± s.d., 10.04 ± 5.79 months (N = 507 mestizo children) and 20.19 ± 7.75 (N = 282 Indian children).