I need to chime in here.  I am an American ex-pat living in India since
April 2006.  When making the video, the makers were respecting Indian values
and culture, and working within the context of what happens here, not just
dealing with biological norms.

The video was filmed in the State of Maharashtra, where Mumbai (Bombay) is
situated.  Compared to the rest of India, Mumbai is very westernized but the
rest of the state and, indeed the rest of the country still holds with
traditional values.  Although I live in south India, this video is very
typical of what I have seen of Indian culture.  

Women here are very modest and uncovering the shoulders would be unthinkable
so the sari covers her above the breast.  Showing the breast would be
considered quite indecent and the pixilation of the face allows the woman to
be filmed with a bare breast without embarrassing her husband if she is
married or father if she is not.  (Traditional women are still subservient
to the males in the family.)  There are also a couple of women in the
background that have pixilated faces - probably due to privacy concerns or
lack of approval from male relatives.

There was a male in attendance at the birth, most likely a doctor, so the
woman would be in whatever position he deemed appropriate.  Doctors are very
highly regarded here - no one would ever consider inconveniencing the doctor
including the nurses or the mother.  Even female doctors do not have the
same power as male doctors.  Furthermore, a doctor will often be of a higher
caste, another reason not to inconvenience the doctor.  Having a doctor in
attendance at the filmed birth would also help to improve compliance for
other health care workers.  If a doctor does it, it must be a good thing.

Whispering the message in the baby's ear is considered quite important.  As
a society, Indians are quite religious and missing this would be
unconscionable.  The video says that the baby should be wiped in a soft
cloth.  This is probably a means to prevent the doctor and others from
touching baby's skin directly.  Hand-washing for infection control is still
a novel concept here and the soft cloth is likely cleaner than the
practitioner's hands so if the baby must be brought to the mother's head,
using a clean soft cloth to wipe and hold the baby is probably a good thing.

The video is not complete - they mention that it took 10 minutes to latch
and the latch sequence we see is only about 5 minutes.  Mother may have done
most of her stroking during the outtakes.  The scrolling text at the bottom
also suggests that mother be propped up with a pillow if one is available
(there is none in the picture) to improve the visual contact between mother
and child.  It is possible that a pillow was not available for the filming.

For nearly 1.1 billion people in India, this is a pretty good video.
Breastfeeding is declining severely here.  Women who deliver in hospitals
are often separated from baby.  Many mothers I work with supplement formula
early and often because they are told by health care workers that their milk
is insufficient.  Starting the baby with a breast crawl is a good start in
boosting mother's confidence and, I believe, will help to increase
breastfeeding here in India.

Just my 2 Rupees worth...

llp

Linda L Pohl, IBCLC, RLC
[log in to unmask]
Phoenix (AZ, USA), Washington DC (USA), Chennai (India)
Read my adventures at www.PohlHome.com
 
 

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