Page 8 - Winter2009

Letters

years before Price. I was interested to or child genital mutilation. Perhaps the been a near universal practice on the
learn of the possible value of sleeping tribes that used cradleboards simply had North American continent. These ob-
with the head tipped forward and have not invented a way to carry their babies servers did not visit Arctic climates,
been experimenting with this. The pho- against their bodies, much as they did where practices were necessarily differ-
tos were also fabulous. not invent wheels or weaving. With ent, and it seems that in South America
There were some statements in the baby-carrying the infant’s mobility is practices were mixed. As we pointed out,
article which I believe are inaccurate. increased and their balance improved the cradle board seems cruel to modern
One of these concerned the “universal” while the all-important bonding to the parents; light swaddling in a blanket
use of cradleboards among American mother is enabled. The baby is kept safe for a small infant during sleeping is all
Natives of North and South America. I’d and the mother can work and everyone that we recommend today. The Weston
love to see more research. However, I do wins. The physical beauty and strength A. Price Foundation takes no official
know that at least some groups of native of the adults of the cradle-boarding stand on bed sharing with infants. The
people in the Arctic carried their babies population does not necessarily mean advice about keeping the baby’s head
close to their bodies inside their parkas that cradle-boarding was a positive in- elevated can be followed with the baby
for warmth. Also, the Yequana people fluence on the individuals in question. in bed with her parents or sleeping in
of South America carried their babies As we all know, there are invisible ways a crib.
on their hips, passing them around in to be harmed.
order to work, and slept entwined with I was disappointed that the “Ad- SWADDLING CONCERNS
them, according to the fascinating book vice for Today’s Mothers” sidebar Each issue of Wise Traditions pro-
Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff. discouraged mother-infant bed sharing. vides wonderful nutritional advice for
Ms. Leidloff lived at length with Millions, if not billions, of people for raising healthy babies. The advice con-
the Yequana before they were other- millions of years have slept cuddled cerning the swaddling of babies and its
wise exposed to western culture. While with their babies, as do primates and all alleged health and respiratory benefits,
sadly ignoring their diet, she recorded other mammals born helpless and naked. however, is something we disagree with
at length the child-rearing practices The possible exception of the Midwest- (Fall, 2009).
to which she attributed their deeply ern American Indians and the current Kicking legs, wiggling bodies
fulfilled natures. In many other parts phobias of the medical-industrial-gov- and expressive arms and hands are not
of the world, native people carried ernment complex do not change that. only a joy for babies; they are deeply
their babies in a great variety of carri- For scientific support for the numerous pleasurable actions that, developmen-
ers that enabled them to be held close benefits and high degree of safety of tally speaking, play a healthy role in
while adults worked. In addition to the proper bed sharing please see the work the child’s physical and emotional inte-
scholarly works to this effect, a terrifi- of Dr. McKenna at the University of gration and coordination. These move-
cally illustrated children’s book, A Ride Notre Dame’s Mother-Baby Behavioral ments, denied the swaddled infant, mute
on Mother’s Back by Emery Bernhard, Sleep Laboratory, as frequently profiled a baby’s emotional responses, rendering
covers some of these tribes. in Mothering Magazine. the child docile and obedient. We believe
Binding a small child to a board Leah Mack that extended periods of swaddling are
for two years such that even the arms Knoxville, Maryland traumatic, steering the infant toward an
are constrained does not strike me as attitude of excessive emotional restraint
a practice to emulate. Rather than a As described by George Caitlin and coupled with hopelessness against
positive and universal practice such as a other observers of American Indians, external pressures. This statement is
nutrient-dense diet, it may be a regional and recorded in numerous photographs, supported in the article itself where
idiosyncrasy more akin to foot-binding the use of cradle boards seems to have Ms. Henderson, quoting Mr. Caitlin
6 Wise Traditions WINTER 2009