Birth is beautiful

femaleisnotadisease:

Prevention is the key for anything that ails us and other countries often have the solutions. If you are pregnant or know someone who is, this is a great map for preventing what is a very westernized dilemma caused by erasing the natural process of the postpartum period!

Click the link for the whole article, but here is the list in full:

1. A Distinct Postpartum Period
In these other cultures, the postpartum period is recognized as a time that is distinct from normal life.  It is a time when the mother is supposed to recuperate, her activities are limited, and her female relatives take care of her.  This type of care was also common in colonial America, when postpartum was referred to as the “lying-in” period.  This period also functioned as a time of “apprenticeship,” when more experienced mothers mentored the new mother.

2. Protective Measures Reflecting the New Mother’s Vulnerability
During the postpartum period, new mothers are recognized as being especially vulnerable.  Ritual bathing, washing of hair, massage, binding of the abdomen, and other types of personal care are prominent in the postpartum rituals of rural Guatemala, Mayan women in the Yucatan, and Latina women both in the United States and Mexico.  These rituals also mark the postpartum period as distinct from other times in women’s lives.

3. Social Seclusion and Mandated Rest
Postpartum is a time for the mother to rest, regain strength, and care for the baby.  Related to the concept of vulnerability is the widespread practice of social seclusion for new mothers. For example, in the Punjab, women and their babies are secluded from everyone but female relatives and their midwives for five days.  Seclusion is said to promote breastfeeding and it limits a woman’s normal activities.  In contrast, many American mothers are expected to entertain others-even during their hospital stay.  Once they get home, this practice continues as they are often expected to entertain family and friends who come to see the baby.

4. Functional Assistance
In order for seclusion and mandated rest to occur, mothers must be relieved of their normal workload.  In these cultures, women are provided with someone to take care of older children and perform their household duties.  As in the colonial period in the United States, women often return to the homes of their family of origin to ensure that this type of assistance is available.

5. Social Recognition of her New Role and Status
In the cultures Stern and Kruckman studied, there was a great deal of personal attention given to the mother.  In China and Nepal, very little attention is paid to the pregnancy; much more attention is focused on the mother after the baby is born.  This has been described as “mothering the mother.” For example, the status of the new mother is recognized through social rituals and gifts.  In Punjabi culture, there is the “stepping-out ceremony,” which includes ritual bathing and hair washing performed by the midwife, and a ceremonial meal prepared by a Brahmin.  When the mother returns to her husband’s family, she returns with many gifts she has been given for herself and the baby.  The following is a description of a postpartum ritual performed by the Chagga of Uganda.  It differs quite a bit from what American mothers experience.

Three months after the birth of her child, the Chagga woman’s head is shaved and crowned with a bead tiara, she is robed in an ancient skin garment worked with beads, a staff such as the elders carry is put in her hand, and she emerges from her hut for her first public appearance with her baby. Proceeding slowly towards the market, they are greeted with songs such as are sung to warriors returning from battle. She and her baby have survived the weeks of danger.  The child is no longer vulnerable, but a baby who has learned what love means, has smiled its first smiles, and is now ready to learn about the bright, loud world outside (Dunham, 1992; p. 148).