Babywearing and Breastfeeding in Africa

One of my closest friends in the world is a woman who lives far away in Ghana, West Africa: Kate Naa-aku Tetteh. She has four beautiful daughters, all of them my goddaughters. I was blessed to be with Kate as her doula when she gave birth to her first three daughters, then Kate and I lived together during the post-partum weeks, and later I also visited with her family in Accra (the capitol city of Ghana). During these deeply meaningful moments in my life, I got to see Kate caring for her daughters and to help with their care, too. One thing Kate did commonly was baby-wearing -- carrying her daughters on her back when they were infants -- and, of course, breastfeeding.

(Babywearing is commonly depicted in Ghanaian wood-carvings. The one in the photo above was given to me by Kate's sister Comfort and shows a woman with two babies -- one on her back and one at her breast -- seated in front of the outlined continent of Africa. Mother Africa!)

Recently, I came across a little essay online that reminded me of these wonderful experiences. The piece is a first-hand account of a woman raising her baby according to her Kenyan grandmother's advice: "Don't read the books, read your baby!" In Kenya, mothers wear their babies on the backs and breastfeed them often -- on demand -- as often as the baby cries. The benefits of this to mother and baby are many.

To read the story, check out: http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/claire_niala.html