Childbirth Around the World

I recently began following a blog called Pregnancy and Childbirth Around the World. It is written by a mom in london who is interested in anthropology and birth practices in other countries. She does her own research on her own time, simply out of curiosity, and writes them up to share!


In a recent post, she wrote "The Bariba culture believes that witch babies can be detected by certain signs at birth... Every Bariba woman approaches childbirth knowing that she might give birth to a witch baby."

In How Much Sex is Enough? She explores the idea that "having sex just once cannot make a baby according to some cultures - they believe that a couple needs to have sex repeatedly over a number of days or even weeks to create a foetus."

In Grass Hut Caesareans she describes how People in Uganda were performing successful Caesareans before they were done in Europe.

Another post is on conception with two fathers - In many Amazonian cultures, people believe that a child can be fathered by more than one man, and many women seek out trysts with many men that they wish to contribute to the biological formation, as well as the social and economical support, of their child.

I also found this interesting site and blog: Birth Around the World. It appears that a couple is traveling to countries all over the world just to look at childbirth in those places! From their website:

We plan to travel to 30 countries in a period of 9 months. While we travel, we'll be capturing on film, photos, and writing the reality of each country's birthing practices. We'll be posting what we find on this website. The information will highlight aspects of the culture in general and those aspects of the culture with beliefs specific to birth and the birthing process. We'll also be sharing birth stories of people we meet along the way, and we'll be sharing important information about maternal and newborn death rates, the health care system, and more. We'll include birth footage; interviews with people on the street, pregnant woman, mothers, fathers and children, health care providers, and others.

I'm joining in late, and it appears that they've already been to several countries. Take a look at their blog to catch up or follow along - they're recently in Australia!