The major purpose of this discussion is to help you think about how culture influences two major (and sometimes controversial) issues in infant development: bottle or breast, and childcare. By participating fully in the discussion and supporting your writing with examples and scholarly resources, you'll familiarize yourself with some published research in the field of human development and learn about your peers' perspectives on these topics.
By successfully completing this discussion activity, you will demonstrate Module Outcome 4: Discuss the role of nutrition in infancy, and Module Outcome 5: Explore how nonparental childcare impacts infants.
After reading about the role Chapter 3 in your webtext, consider and thoughtfully respond to the following questions. In your responses to peers, remember it's okay to disagree! Support your replies with evidence from scholarly sources (be sure to properly cite and reference them) and give reasons for your opinion. Ask questions if it's appropriate, and remember to add to the discussion with new ideas.
Reply to both parts.
Part 1. Although experts agree breastfeeding is nutritionally better for infants than formula feeding, there are some situations in which breastfeeding is not sufficient or appropriate. There is also the impact of culture and cohort effects to consider.
1. What specific changes in policies or practices do you think would increase the rate of breastfeeding in your country?
2. Malnutrition exists, even in industrialized countries. What are some of the reasons that malnourishment, which slows physical growth, harms IQ scores and school performance?
Part 2. Many people have strong feelings about who should care for children. Should children be cared for at home by a parent? What about attending daycare or another type of nonparental care? When seeking evidence to explores these issues, it is challenging to study the effects of nonparental care on infants for a variety of reasons.
1. What are some of the factors making this type of research difficult?
2. What differences do you think you would find between employed and non-employed parents of infants?
3. How might the differences you identify impact the type of attachment infants develop.