In June 1971 Dr. Otto Schaefer and his friend, Dr. Jack Hildes, presented a paper at the Circumpolar Health Symposium in Finland (Oulu, June 1971; Unpublished. Acquired through O. Schaefer.). They compared the fertility rate of the older Eskimo mothers who had nursed traditionally to the younger women who bottlefed. The older women were 30 to 50 years old; the younger women were 17 to 29 years old. When did these women conceive? The older women conceived 20 to 30 months postpartum due to traditional lactation while the younger women conceived 2 to 4 months postpartum due to the bottle and shortened lactation. Both doctors state that the Eskimos extended infertility was due to prolonged breastfeeding. This natural population control of breastfeeding, in their conclusion, “has been largely destroyed by the consequences of urbanization” (Ibid).
In 1981 Dr. Schaefer spoke at a women’s conference in Pangnirtung. It was attended by native Arctic women from many places. Their one complaint was having too many children (G. Hankins, Sunrise Over Pangnirtung, p. 182). The women had lost the natural spacing of births due to traditional breastfeeding. The traditional family size used to be 3 to 4 children. Dr. Schaefer taught that the larger Eskimo family was “one of the consequences of giving up breastfeeding” (Ibid, 182).
While Dr. Schaefer was a strong promoter of natural child spacing, he also recorded the many diseases that accompanied the introduction of the bottle. In Dr. Schaefer’s opinion, “breastfeeding had a greater influence on the life and health of infants than any other single factor” (Ibid, p. 179). He worked hard to spread the truth about breastfeeding to the common Eskimo people and others.
Next week: God’s Plan for Me
Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding