The scientific precepts for healthy eating have been widely divulged and are recognized as essential to the nutritional demands of pregnancy and its related events, such as postpartum and breastfeeding, aiming mainly at the health of the mother-child binomial. On the other hand, the eating habits of women during the pregnancy-postpartum cycle may be influenced by other logic. This article is a theoretical essay that aims to reflect on the dynamics of the socio-cultural dimension and on social relationships with respect to the eating habits of pregnant and postpartum women. It also aims to enhance the understanding of feeding beyond a strict nutritional and biological observation, in greater part interpreted from the bio-statistical perspective. It highlights the importance of approaching questions related to feeding from an interdisciplinary point of view, which allows for the conjugation of knowledge based on the Social Sciences and Biomedicine, in order to review public policies and improve the practice of assistance offered specifically to this group.
eating anthropology; feeding behavior; pregnancy; food habits; puerperium