M. Bentley et al., Infant feeding practices of low-income, African-American, adolescent mothers: an ecological, multigenerational perspective, SOCIAL SC M, 49(8), 1999, pp. 1085-1100
The early introduction of non-milk foods among African-American infants has
been well documented. Several studies report: the addition of semi-solids
as early as 1-2 weeks of age. This study investigated, through ethnographic
, repeat indepth interviews with teen mothers and grandmothers of infants,
the determinants of such feeding practices and the inter-generational facto
rs involved in infant feeding decision-making. Nineteen adolescent mothers
were recruited from Baltimore City WIC programs. The teen mothers were inte
rviewed in their homes during four separate visits and the grandmothers at
least twice. Ethnographic field guides focused on questions about what, why
and how infants were fed and on the 'ethnotheories' of parenting and infan
t care in this population. All interviews were taped and transcripts were a
nalyzed using text retrieval software. Results confirmed that it is the cul
tural norm to feed cereal in the bottle and to feed other semi-solid foods
within the first month of life. Most grandmothers played the dominant role
in deciding what the infant should eat and the timing of the introduction o
f solids. This pattern occurred both because grandmothers had extensive phy
sical access to their grandchildren and because teen mothers were dependent
upon grandmothers. The use of qualitative research methods, with an ecolog
ical, multi-generational focus, provides a rich description of the context
within which infant feeding decisions are made. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science L
td. All rights reserved.