Culture and traditions around pregnancy, birth and baby

Hi everyone

I was encouraged to start this thread by some other BBers after discussing it in my blog recently. The topic I'd like to broach is:

Does anyone have any pregnancy, birth or baby cultural traditions that they observe?

These traditions can be from any culture or even specific family traditions.

Here is a bit of background to my story - I'm currently 27 weeks pregnant and my husband was born in India (he moved here with his family as a teenager). His parents are Hindu and are active in maintaining their religion/cultural traditions. My DH identifies as being Hindu by birth, but is not particularly religious. My FIL explained to me that Hinduism is not so much a religion as a philosophy. From what I have experienced, it is very much tied up with culture and tradition.

My MIL is very excited about our little bun in the oven, and I have learned a few things about Hindu customs around pregnancy and birth so far. These are;

- There is a ceremony (puja) done about 4 or 5 months and a locket style charm is given to the pregnant woman to wear around the neck or arm to protect mother and baby. In my case the charm is a locket that has a part of a flower that was offered to the Goddess Kali at a temple in India. That flower was then inserted into the locket and sealed with beeswax.

- At about 1 month before the baby is due there is a 'ladies function' held called Shaad (which means desire). I haven't had it yet but I imagine its a get together of women family and friends and I think the pregnant lady is encouraged to eat to her hearts desire. I might update this when I've actually experienced it!

- Hindu tradition believes its bad luck to buy things for the baby before it is born. I'm not sure how strict this one is - I only heard this via DH and am asking him to clarify. This is the only tradition I have struggled with so far... I think we may have to work out a compromise. I can see how it works in traditional Indian extended families where people usually lived with their family members in one big house, but in Aussieland? I don't have any family in the state! I'd be interested to hear more about this one.

Anyone else got stories to add?

:)

My mum has been telling me some interesting things that my paternal grandmother would make her do (she's Italian). They're probably not as in depth as what you have described but the one I liked was that after you have the baby, you're not allowed to get your hands wet for three weeks.

I think this was in reference to washing up and housework (not showering or washing hands!) so for each of my mother's three children, my grandmother would come and stay with my mum for the first three weeks and help with all the cooking, cleaning, washing etc. As much as some people might not like their space invaded, I can see the value in having an extra pair of hands to help for the first three weeks at home with a new baby!

My grandmother also lived 3 hours away so it was probably nice for her to spend time with her new grandchild too.

What a great thread!

I'm an Australian Jehovah's Witness, so there's nothing special that we do. But I'm very interested in reading about other traditions!

My MCHN told me that Cambodian women stay in bed for 30 days after the birth. The MIL is to come and take care of her and mums feet aren't supposed to touch the floor for this time. (Except toilet) She is also fed good nutritious, warming foods to aid recovery.

Needless to say I am Cambodian after my kids are born....then back to good old traditionless Aussie after that.

Vietnamesse woman lie in for 40 days and the extended family and husband do everythinbg all they do is feed the baby.

A lot of them dont BF till after milk comes in as they believe that colostrum is witches milk.
This thread is great i love reading about cultures.

Maybe it was vietnamese?? I get confused - we have the most lovely cambodian neighbour who tell us all sorts of cryptic things about children growing like blades of grass....I love him.

yeah all the vietnamese, cambodian, burmese people are so sweet caring and friendly they r the most lovely and thankful people to care for.

My husband is Balinese & traditions vary from village to village. But we are also Hindu, during the pregnancy we shouldnt judge others or say nasty things as the things we say will be bestowed on our unborn child... Also the husband isnt to cut his hair as it is to show other women he is married with a pregnant wife & make him unattractive to others...
The woman is supposed to eat whatever she desires or the baby will be a heavy dribbler..
Once born the mother is deemed dirty/unclean until she stops bleeding & the baby is not to touch the ground for the first 100 days approx...
The father & family do everything to care for the baby & the Mother eats lots of nutrtious foods to make good strong milk so she only rests & feeds baby...
Then every 3 months or so various ceremonies are performed...

OH Tracey, nothing your hubby could do would make him unattractive......*sigh - what a hottie!

I think Welsh refuse to tell anyone the name of the baby until after its been christened, so its "Baby" for a few months.

When I was PG with Marcus DF and I went out with his work mates for christmass drinks and all the maltesse guys (there was about 4 of them) kept offering me there food, saying that a PG woman needs to eat even if she wasn't hungry it was to help feed bubs, so being me and not wanting to offend any one I would eat until I was full as a goog!

Great thread hun.

Oh why cant Aussie ladies get some 20 + days in bed after giving birth. Id love that.:lol:

That is also true for Singaporean women. My friend is from Singapore and after giving birth she stayed in bed for 30 days and was fed a vegetable broth everyday which is supposed to be good for milk supply. Her mother and MIL were in charge of keeping the house during that time and mum/bub basically spent the whole time in bed.

To be honest, that might be ok for a few days but I think I'd go nuts staying in bed that long!!

yep one of the women at work is Chinese, and shes not supposed to shower, bathe, anything for a month after the birth (she had big arguments with the family over that one)

Tracey, I hear you! Don't call your child ANYTHING you don't want whilst in utero.

My DS knew he was loved and precious, but also when I was pg I told people who asked "what is it?" that I was having a platypus. DS darts around like mad and also can eat his own bodyweight in food in a single day. And then some, if I'm honest (we've kept tabs, home and Nursery, for our own interest: he has eaten this much!). But he is also gorgeous, clever, strong, precious and adorable. Which doesn't quite make up for the food bill, but never mind.