Breastfeeding in indigenous communities: a meta-ethnography of knowledge and practices

Breastfeeding is the first alimentary practice. It has multiple physical, emotional and social benefits. Despite this, only 38% of children in the world are exclusively breastfed, a fact that suggests that the relationship with historical, social and cultural dimensions should be addressed. The purpose of this study is to analyse the practices and knowledge related to exclusive breastfeeding in indigenous communities. We conducted a qualitative, systematic review of the literature, following the meta-ethnographic approach, consisting of interpretative analysis and inductive and comparative processes. We assessed the quality of the articles with the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Español (CASPe) and carried out the analysis and classification with Atlas TI 7. Of 93 articles obtained, we selected 26 that met the inclusion and quality review criteria. A total of 73.07% of the publications were written in English and 10 of the 26 selected articles were published during 2020 and 2021. Our line of argument is that ‘breastfeeding practices in indigenous communities are influenced by their contexts and reflect the appropriation of knowledge that is in tension between the community, mothers and health professionals’.