Breastfeeding: Cultural Practices and Variations

Abstract

Throughout the centuries women have learned that foods, fears and even pregnancy affects their milk supply. Not surprisingly dietary restrictions in pregnancy abound. Food such as eggs, chicken, and milk are taboo for fear of hydrocephalus, abortions, convulsions. It is believed that if a nursing mother becomes pregnant her milk will be harmful to the infant on the breast. This belief may be related to the fact that mothers throw colostrum away, because of its yellow color, fearing it is “pus” or “poison”, and purge the infant for 1–4 days with a variety of substances such as honey, rose water and hyssop. At the time of the delivery about one third of mothers with milk no longer have colostrum. Some societies provide or even prefer breast milk substitutes, others use wet nurses. Selection criteria for wet nurses have varied through the ages and with different cultures. At one stage “scientific studies” were used to justify the belief that the milk of a brunette was better than that of a redhead. Women with small breasts were not considered adequate, and it was seriously believed that mannerisms and racial characteristics were transmissable through milk. Some “authorities” even went as far as to profess that breast milk was so specific that women who had born infants of one sex could only nurse infants of the same sex. In different cultures certain causal associations with foods in pregnancy and lactation exist. To ensure an adequate milk supply prayers, witchcraft, herbs and special foods are advocated. Each culture has its own remedies for an “insufficient” milk supply. To promote lactation mothers in Latin American drink special teas made from “hot plants” called vervein: lactation soups in China are made from rooster or pig and in addition eggs are eaten in large quantities. In India drinks such as lassi are prescribed. Herb usage is universal; examples are sesame, abysinth and cumin. Heat is also thought to be beneficial. Special tests have been devised to ascertain the quality of the milk. Soratus used a nail test, later a rennet test was added. Truby King measured milk fat when the infant was not thriving. The Somoans have official milk testers. Recently, in the literature, a creamatocrit test was described to measure the fat content of the milk. Animals have also been fed on human breast milk and still are. Dogs have been put on the breasts of pregnant women to “draw them out” or on women with lumps in the breast, as treatment. Humans have also been nursed directly by animals such as goats, asses and pigs. Success stories however are few. Old incapacitated people too, have been nursed by lactating relatives. Nulliparous girls and. old women have served as surrogate mothers. More amazingly, there are cases on record where men in desperate straights have suckled infants. Not only has breast milk served as a food, but since ancient times its medicinal qualities have been recognized. Apart from its known antibody content indispensable for infant health, it has been extensively used for eye infections, even in modern times, during epidemics of hemorrhagic conjunctivitis. Through their fads and fashionable treatments both traditional and Western practitioners have succeeded in confusing generations of mothers. History has much to teach about breast feeding and the variety of feeding patterns.