Physical breastfeeding problems can lead women to terminate breastfeeding earlier than planned. In high-income countries such as the UK, breastfeeding problems have been attributed to the cultural and individual “inexperience” of breastfeeding, ultimately leading to lower breastfeeding rates. Yet, cross-cultural evidence suggests breastfeeding problems still occur in contexts where breastfeeding is common, prolonged, and seen publicly. This suggests breastfeeding problems are not unusual and do not necessarily lead to breastfeeding cessation. As humans evolved to raise children cooperatively, what matters for breastfeeding continuation may be the availability of social support during the postnatal period. Here, we test the hypothesis that social support buffers mothers from the negative impact breastfeeding problems have on duration.

中文翻译：

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检验缓冲假设：英国的母乳喂养问题、停止和社会支持

身体上的母乳喂养问题会导致女性提前终止母乳喂养。在英国等高收入国家，母乳喂养问题被归咎于母乳喂养的文化和个人“缺乏经验”，最终导致母乳喂养率降低。然而，跨文化证据表明，在母乳喂养普遍、长期和公开可见的情况下，母乳喂养问题仍然存在。这表明母乳喂养问题并不罕见，也不一定会导致母乳喂养停止。随着人类进化为合作抚养孩子，继续母乳喂养的重要因素可能是产后期间社会支持的可用性。在这里，我们检验了社会支持可以使母亲免受母乳喂养问题对持续时间的负面影响的假设。