In the beginning of my career we were still carefully placing babies on
their stomachs for sleep and cautioning parents to do the same.  Several
Chinese families let me know that while they of course thought that European
babies looked Just Fine with those rounded heads, it didn't suit Chinese
babies, and in fact they had a tradition of placing the baby on its back, in
bed with mother, for the first 100 days, for their mutual rest and to ensure
the more beautiful head shape they valued, namely FLAT on the back.  On day
101 they went out and had a photographer take a picture of mother and baby
but continued to let babies sleep on back to avoid the less desirable
bulbous head shape otherwise seen in Europe at the time.  The other reason
for this position, according to a Chinese obstetrician I met in Beijing, was
to avoid flattening of the baby's nose, since at that time European features
were in vogue and the Chinese word for Europeans (if my informants weren't
pulling my leg) was 'long pointy nose'.
In some cultures the baby's head is wrapped tightly in a special cloth for
that purpose, to shape the skull in a way deemed beautiful by that culture.
While skull shape may be of major importance aesthetically, I am more
concerned about the mental, emotional and physical understimulation that is
bound to result from babies being left passively on their backs all the
time.
Now, back to topic.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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