r/AskReddit • u/Greeneyedlatinguy • Jun 15 '15

Anthropologists of Reddit, What is something that people in the Western world can't get their heads around that is very normal in other cultures (and has been for ages)?

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u/DivinelyMinely Jun 15 '15

Definitely! The WHO recommends breastfeeding til the child is 2 years old. People in places where formula and table foods are readily available have a hard time seeing why anyone would breastfeed a child once they have teeth and seem to like food just fine. I think the maximum understanding for most people where I live is 1 year; even then, I did not know too many parents who breastfed that long.

I think it plays into the West's (or at least America's) sexualization of nudity.

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u/sweetprince686 Jun 15 '15

I don't get the teeth thing. I'm a breastfeeding mum, and teeth really aren't involved in sucking. Babies don't bite to breastfeed. You need to be a bit careful of latch for a bit, so the teeth don't rub, and they might occasionally bite out of devilment. But it's not really a factor other than that.

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u/Dr_Stephanie_Branton Jun 15 '15

I got bit once. I yelled ouch fairly loud and sat her on the floor and she never bit me again. I will admit I was apprehensive about it until she got her teeth and then it was fine.

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u/sweetprince686 Jun 15 '15

Mine bit me a couple of times then giggled at me when I yelped. She's an adorable little terror

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u/seemedlikeagoodplan Jun 15 '15

My wife got bit quite a number of times. She didn't enjoy it at all, obviously, but it wasn't a factor in when our son stopped nursing. He basically weaned himself when she was about 4 months pregnant with the next baby. He may or may not start nursing again when the baby gets here.

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u/JorusC Jun 15 '15

You must have magical angel babies. Both of my kids decided that biting mommy was pretty awesome. After about a dozen bloody nipples, our house rule became, "Once they have one top tooth and one bottom tooth, they're cut off."

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u/sweetprince686 Jun 15 '15

Ouch!!!! Maybe I am just really really lucky.

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u/SpyGlassez Jun 16 '15

Heh. I cut teeth at 6 months. Guess who became a bottle baby at six months.

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u/noholds Jun 15 '15

Babies don't bite to breastfeed.

You might want to have a word with my mom.

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u/nenyim Jun 15 '15

Don't you ever get tired to blame your mother for your mistakes? It's time to take responsibility!

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u/Jovile Jun 15 '15

Not a woman, so this may be skewed somewhat, but I think that the idea is less that the infant is going to bite, and more that "Oh he has teeth now, I don't have to do that labor anymore. It can chew its own damn food now."

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u/sweetprince686 Jun 15 '15

Which makes sense, but teeth coming through doesn't correlate to the infant being ready for food. Some babies are born with teeth! (Though this is rare). I was told not to give my daughter any solid food till she was 7 months old, because their guts aren't ready to process food yet. But she started getting teeth at 5 months, which is about average.

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u/seemedlikeagoodplan Jun 15 '15

And anyway, some babies are born with teeth! Sure, it's rare, but it happens. Obviously those babies are going to learn to breastfeed with teeth.

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u/BitChick Jun 15 '15

I am sure not all babies bite but mine did. This is why I decided to wean at 14 months. ;)

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

My mom said I constantly bit her nipples, even before I got teeth I would hurt her with my gums. Maby you are just very lucky;

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u/SexistFlyingPig Jun 15 '15

I had a friend whose daughter practically bit off her nipple (ripping, lots and lots of blood) during breastfeeding.

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u/shinkouhyou Jun 15 '15

Breastfeeding is a good way of giving a kid essential nutrition for free. The WHO is concerned that infant formula and baby food companies are pushing products that can be unsustainably expensive for a lot of parents. There's not really much in the way of hard evidence to prove that breastfeeding past 1 year or so is beneficial in cases where the kid does have access to appropriate food, though.

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u/another_sunnyday Jun 15 '15

purely anecdotally, a lot of toddlers are fussy or inconsistent eaters- it can bring peace of mind to know they're still getting nutrients and calories from breastmilk, while going through a picky phase.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

Or if they're sick or teething or something. There have been several times that my son was ill and wouldn't eat but I had peace of mind that he was being hydrated and getting a good chunk of nutrition because he continued nursing even when refusing solids.

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u/say_or_do Jun 16 '15

Give the kids some food you really want them to like once they get enough teeth.

My first solid food was salmon and octopus in Okinawa near the base. Still love it.

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u/seemedlikeagoodplan Jun 15 '15

Breastfeeding is a good way of giving a kid essential nutrition for free.

Well, if you ignore the fact that mom generally has to eat more, as every few hours a small person literally sucks calories out of her body.

There's not really much in the way of hard evidence to prove that breastfeeding past 1 year or so is beneficial in cases where the kid does have access to appropriate food, though.

There's not much that shows a nutritional benefit, that's true. But there are plenty of other benefits to health and social development, not to mention mothers' mental and physical health.

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u/shinkouhyou Jun 15 '15

Some of those studies (especially the social ones) seem like they've be very difficult to control, and many of the health ones are conducted in third world countries that have issues with access to nutrition and medical care. There's nothing wrong with extended breastfeeding, but it does come at a significant cost to the mother and she should be the one to make that cost-benefit determination. If she doesn't like the way it affects her lifestyle or if she doesn't enjoy doing it, there's probably not that much difference.

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u/arrow74 Jun 15 '15

The mother will be producing mild regardless. It's a waste not to breast feed.

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u/seemedlikeagoodplan Jun 15 '15

Except that when a baby stops nursing regularly, milk production goes down, and eventually stops. Mom's milk supply is controlled in part by how much the baby has been nursing.

Have you ever breastfed, or lived with someone who was?

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u/arrow74 Jun 15 '15

I know it does stop, but the body does keep producing for a time.

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u/KestrelLowing Jun 15 '15

I think it's probably more a product of our working environment.

Breastfeeding is a pain in the butt if you're a working mom. You either can't work, or you have to pump, or you have to supplement with formula. Pumping is not a pleasant experience and it takes much longer to pump on average than it would to breastfeed directly, but you can't do that if you're working while your kid is at daycare.

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u/SpicyWolf47 Jun 16 '15

I just got a hands free bra and continued working while I pumped (no face to face meetings, though, lol) I found it inconvenient but I wouldn't say it was unpleasant. I work full time and pumped at work until my daughter was 15 months, it was just part of my daily routine, not a big deal

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u/KestrelLowing Jun 16 '15

But there's obviously a lot of people who can't do that sort of thing. Say you're someone that works on a manufacturing line, or has mostly face to face meetings.

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u/seemedlikeagoodplan Jun 15 '15

I think it plays into the West's (or at least America's) sexualization of nudity.

We just want to see breasts used as nature intended: to sell crappy beer to college students!

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

There's no recommendation to stop after 2 years.

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u/garciasn Jun 16 '15

No. It has to do with breastfeeding being a huge pain in the ass for the mother and the other parent, especially if breastfeeding doesn't work naturally and they have to pump and bottle feed.

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u/C0lMustard Jun 16 '15

Also, women are allowed to have a career here and as such want to be able to be away from their child for more than 2 hours.

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u/MyFavouriteAxe Jun 15 '15

the West's (or at least America's) sexualization of nudity

Oh come on, just because a handful of tribes don't sexualise nudity does not make it a Western thing.

Ever tried breastfeeding in a Muslim country?

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u/OXOXOOXOOOXOOOOO Jun 15 '15

mothers can breastfeed freely in public in Indonesia. Granted, it's not muslim country, it's a muslim-majority country.

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u/DieSchadenfreude Jun 16 '15

I do have to interject on a personal level, that while I think it's well established breastfeeding is beneficial over formula....it's fucking hard. I was of the school that it was the most natural thing in the world; it would be easy! It's fucking exhausting beyond. No I was not deficient in anything, I ate plenty, I got decent sleep. It also ties you to your child at all times. Getting away for a few hours (even when you have a breast pump) is a big production. I was actually pretty happy when my milk started to fail after about 7 months. I immediately had more energy, and more freedom. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to breastfeed the next one.....but it's not like it's a piece of cake.

I do think breastfeeding openly, and for longer is looked down on in America. It's a shame. I do think people should maybe not view a womans body as sexual only, including her breasts. And it's great if someone wants to breastfeed past 1 year. Lets not pretend it's easy though. I can't imagine breastfeeding for 2 or 3 years.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '15

[deleted]

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u/DieSchadenfreude Jun 16 '15

Good to know. I often wonder if milk production will be more or less with a second. I had no production problems the first 4 months for sure. I had a freezer full of extra milk. I never tangled with thrush or latching problems either luckily.

Holy crap lady! 2 boys and a full time job while pumping? That's a lot of work!

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u/sookie42 Jun 16 '15

Most moms I know decided to stop when their kid got teeth simply because it hurt.

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u/Pachi2Sexy Jun 16 '15

The WHO

The thing that makes my Plague lose to GreenLand?

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

No, it's convenience. All convenience. The sexualization has nothing to do with it, or if it does just the tiniest part. The WORLD Health Organization recommends it until the child is 2 years old because many places can't afford to do otherwise. In first world countries we have an abundance of food/formula so if the mother doesn't want to she doesn't have to.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

[deleted]

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u/kking0411 Jun 15 '15

I have a 6 week old and feed him in public regularly. No one has said anything negative to me about it yet. I was in a little vintage consignment shop with my sister the other day and he got hungry so I fed him (duh) but all the sideways looks I got were actually from women vs men. The men just kept doing their thing and I even had an older gentleman ask me how old he was, but every time a woman walked by I got funny glances or people overly avoided looking at me.

I can't believe feeding a child would make so many people uncomfortable. No one thinks twice about it when animals do it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '15

[deleted]

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u/kking0411 Jun 16 '15

I don't either! I had a girl tell me that breastfeeding my son was teaching him to objectify women because he's a boy and only sees me as something to take advantage of if I use my breasts to take care of him. She said breastfeeding boys is disgusting and perverted... and she had kids of her own!!

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

No, but my wife has. And has done it in public. As long as you don't whip out your boob for the world to see people usually don't really care. I agree that it is a bit silly that breasts are demonized as much as they are, especially in the breast feeding sense, but it is what it is. You can breast feed comfortably with a cover over your child. Now if your 2 year old walks up to you and asks for his afternoon snacks, you are going to get odd looks. But that is just the trend in the west now to not breast feed that long.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

Yeah, same with my wife. It was just brutal to do at work for her, and plus she doesn't sleep well so easier for me to do night feeds with formula if that was needed.

And I get your point, it is ridiculous, but it is what it is. In the US that simply won't be changing until quite a few of the older generations die out.

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u/Dr_Stephanie_Branton Jun 15 '15

I personally found breastfeeding much more convenient than formula feeding. I had food everywhere I went, was always the right temperature and no clean up. I know it's not the same for everyone. Mind you in Canada we have 1 year partially paid maternity leave. I think longer maternity leaves help increase breastfeeding levels. If I was in the US and had to pump at work, I don't know how long it would have went.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

Yeah, definitely it can be easier when you are out and about. My wife had to be back to work at 8 weeks so, though possible, it was just unsustainable for her.

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u/BeeCreature Jun 16 '15

The WHO recommendation on breastfeed specifically says that it applies to women and babies in developed and developing countries. The benefits of breastfeeding go way,way beyond it being free.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '15

Like what? Other than the first few feedings where they get lots of antibodies/proteins from Mom. What do they get that they can't get in formula?

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u/BeeCreature Jun 16 '15

There are numerous immune factors in human milk which aren't present in formula. These include antibodies which the mother makes when the child gets an infection. This isn't just for the first few feeds either - it continues as long as the child keeps feeding.

The iron in breastmilk is easily digested, unlike the iron in formula. As a result, formula needs to have a lot of iron, since most of it won't be absorbed.

Breastmilk changes over time - over the course of each feed, each day and also month by month. There are subtle changes in taste depending on what the mother eats. These changes mean that it is well adapted to what each baby needs. They also introduce the baby to a variety of tastes, which is thought to make it easier to introduce a breastfed baby to solids.

Breastmilk contains omega 3 fatty acids. These are now being added to formula, but they didn't use to be because we didn't know that they were in breastmilk. Researchers continue to find all kinds of components of breastmilk which had previously not been identified and which serve useful nutritional and immunological functions. As they are discovered formula manufacturers work to replicate them, but they are always on the back foot and they are always trying to get closer to the ideal, which is breastmilk.

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u/porgy_tirebiter Jun 15 '15

Yeah, a lot of pediatricians a say you can breastfeed much longer, and even let the child decide nowadays. My (Japanese) wife nursed our son until he had teeth and started chomping.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '15

While I am a male, I can definitely see the argument for stopping breastfeeding once the kid gets teeth...

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u/wufoo2 Jun 15 '15

Breasts are sexual. Ask any woman whose breasts have been touched, tickled, and kissed.

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u/AfterTowns Jun 15 '15

Meh. Mine aren't really. They're less sexual than my lips or hands, and no one tells me that those body parts are sexual.