Postpartum Cultural Comparisons

Old Ugandan woman standing in her cane sugar field

I love that the world is shrinking. We have access to each other – other cultures and places – like never before. I first travelled to East Africa when I was 20 (a wee babe!) and it blew my whole world open. To see people happily living so differently than me was something I needed to see and experience. This experience, as well as others I was able to get since then, has taught me that differences are good and we can learn from each other. Maybe, even, we need to learn from each other!

As we’ve been developing our business, it’s been eye-opening to learn about the various lying in customs around the world. The thing is: it’s all mother-centric. It’s a foreign thing to me because we don’t have anything formal like that in our modern-day America. Most of it is about baby. Hopefully, we have friends and family who are intentional. But can you imagine being visited by your midwife for the first two weeks, like la cuarentena of Latin American cultures? Can you imagine living with relatives who give you constant care and warm-oil massages, like in India? Can you picture having others cook your meals, expecting you to nap while they bathe and dress your baby, like in the Ivory Coast? Can you picture a light burning in your home to honor the new life (what a ritual!) and having your midwife massage you, feed you, and wrap your abdomen, like in Indonesia? Can you imagine being banned for your kitchen until the cord stump falls off baby, like in Zambia? Can you imagine not having to introduce your newborn to strangers until six weeks, like in Vietnam?? It’s all so interesting and wonderful.

We could learn about these customs forever, but for now, we’ve put together a small graphic outlining the general idea of this throughout the world. Take a look, and maybe you’ll be inspired in ways to honor your next new mother friend.

A comparison of cultures around the world and the postpartum phase

How does Marabou support women?

We live in culture where “bouncing back” is more valued than proper rest. As admirable as it may be for a sports star to get back on the field, the same rules don’t apply to postpartum recovery. The traditional resting period has been stolen from women through pressure to get back to their job or simply through lack of presence.

Grandmas, sisters and best friends who otherwise would have been there to help a woman transition into motherhood often live too far away to be of any help. Household chores and caring for older children inevitably fall on the mom. But she just delivered a new life! She needs rest. 

Marabou Services is a unique gift registry which provides services instead of stuff. Most mom’s get too many onesies, too many baby blankets and not enough helping hands. Break out of a destructive cultural norm and start a Marabou registry today.

Start a Marabou Gift Registry!

With a Marabou registry you can sing up for any service which will benefit you or someone you know during the postpartum recovery period.

Postpartum doulas for a first time mom

House cleanings for moms of multiples

Childcare for moms with older children!

Once your registry is created, add it to any other registry or post it to your Facebook and ask friends and family contribute to your postpartum service, rather than buying you more stuff.

More and more moms find they have to figure out postpartum alone. Is it any wonder why PMDs are on the rise? Or women are embittered by the journey of motherhood? We can change that by giving the gift of peace.

Nursing Mothers & Bedside Snacks!

Bedside snack basket for nursing and breastfeeding mothers

New moms that breastfeed have weird everything.

(Yes. You read that correctly.)

Weird emotions (all the hormones!). Weird boob proportions. Weird chest pressure (time to nurse!). Weird leakage problems. Weird style (#pjsallday).

And – namely – weird football-player-rivaling appetite. This isn’t a problem, except it’s matched with our weird sleep schedule! Food isn’t exactly convenient in the middle of the night.

We’re nocturnal. I mean, babies are around the clock. And we ourselves want to eat everything, usually during these 3 am feedings because baby needs to nurse and be changed and nurse again. So, by the time you sit or lay down to perform said 2nd feeding, your stomach is crying at you, too.

Feeeeed me!

This is why my husband is a genius: he instituted a by-the-bed snack basket. Hooray! Now, I do this every time I’m postpartum and I will preface that though these snacks aren’t awful (in a perfect world, there’d be fruit snacks in there!), I wouldn’t call them highly nutritious. But they do the trick in the middle of the night when you’re hungry and nursing and unwilling to leave your bedroom. They hold you over until morning when the real hearty food can begin.

Here’s how to fashion your own:

Step 1: Get a basket! Whatever will hold a sufficient snack stash. Extra points if it’s pretty and makes you happy. Mine is a 10” x 13” basket.

Step 2: Fill with goodies! Here are some of my must-haves:

  • Granola bars
  • Belvita breakfast crackers
  • Trail mix*
  • Goldfish crackers*
  • Peanut butter crackers
  • Dried mango & other fruit*

* For these options, we buy big packages and divvy them up into snack bags. When your wife eats everything, you must be economical!

Step 3: Add a bottle of water (the thirst is real!) and a plastic bag for trash. Optional: wet wipes for your hands.

Easy! Yet so helpful. You can get right back to bed with your newborn and still pack in those much-needed extra 500 daily calories.

Bedside snack basket for new breastfeeding mothers

How does Marabou support women?

We live in culture where “bouncing back” is more valued than proper rest. As admirable as it may be for a sports star to get back on the field, the same rules don’t apply to postpartum recovery. The traditional resting period has been stolen from women through pressure to get back to their job or simply through lack of presence.

Grandmas, sisters and best friends who otherwise would have been there to help a woman transition into motherhood often live too far away to be of any help. Household chores and caring for older children inevitably fall on the mom. But she just delivered a new life! She needs rest. 

Marabou Services is a unique gift registry which provides services instead of stuff. Most mom’s get too many onesies, too many baby blankets and not enough helping hands. Break out of a destructive cultural norm and start a Marabou registry today.

Start a Marabou Gift Registry!

With a Marabou registry you can sing up for any service which will benefit you or someone you know during the postpartum recovery period.

Postpartum doulas for a first time mom

House cleanings for moms of multiples

Childcare for moms with older children!

Once your registry is created, add it to any other registry or post it to your Facebook and ask friends and family contribute to your postpartum service, rather than buying you more stuff.

More and more moms find they have to figure out postpartum alone. Is it any wonder why PMDs are on the rise? Or women are embittered by the journey of motherhood? We can change that by giving the gift of peace.

Mom Tip: Bedside Snacks for a Nursing Mother