"Many of the women that I talked to actually struggled a lot with learning how to breast-feed," she says.
Two-thirds of the women said they had some problems at the beginning, such as pain, fear, troubles getting the baby to latch and concerns about the milk supply — just like American moms.
And their problems went behind breast-feeding.
"Most women talked about having little knowledge about early infant care, such as how to hold babies or how to be sure they're sleeping safely," Scelza says.
So how do the Himba get over these problems? They have a secret weapon many American women don't, Scelza says: Grandmothers.
"When a woman gives birth, she typically goes home to her mother's compound in the last trimester of pregnancy and stays there for months after the birth," she says.
And then the new mom's mom — the grandma — shows her everything she needs to know about breast-feeding and infant care."Their mothers actually sleep in the hut with them after birth and wake up the new mom and say, 'It's time to feed your baby! It's time to feed your baby!" Scelza exclaims.
So it's really not that we've lost the natural instinct for breast-feeding. But instead we no longer have a grandma around 24/7 to be a teacher. We've lost the guidance. We've lost the support.
"As I started to read about this [Himba practice] you can find so many examples of this in so many cultures," Scelza says.
For example, there's a small ethnic group in the Ivory Coast, called Beng. In their community, a woman learns to breast-feed from other moms, anthropologist Alma Gottlieb describes in her book The Afterlife Is Where We Come From.
"During the first few weeks, a newly delivered woman — especially a first-time mother ... has a constant stream of visitors, particularly women," Gottlieb writes. "Most have breast-fed many babies themselves, and they spontaneously share their nursing wisdom. Through them, a new mother is quickly socialized into accepting an almost continual round of breast-feeding suggestions dispensed by more experienced women."
In many Asian cultures, women have traditionally practiced what's called "sitting the month," or zuo yue zi in Mandarin. For 30 days, a woman stays confined in her home and is looked after by grandmothers, in-laws and aunts.
These women cook and help the new mom recover from giving birth. They also teach her how to breast-feed.
"Researchers often write about this period as a time for recuperation," Scelza says. "But I'm increasingly interested in thinking it as critical period of learning for new moms."
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