Tag: human milk

In the era of the International Breastfeeding Conference, Cindy Turner-Maffei and Karin Cadwell would present their beloved Weird Findings segment on the last day of the conference. I always found it delightful and now wistfully reminisce about the session sometimes.

One year, we learned about pink yak milk, spider milk, goat wet nurses and donkeys with “good moral reputations” with the alleged ability to cure distemper and poisoning. That year, I was also introduced to the jaunty tune “I’m a Mammal”.  It was all great fun, entertaining, and educational.  

This week’s post is another attempt at a Weird Findings collection, a nod to all that is quirky. I landed on quirky as the best word applicable to most of the items below, but quirky and weird are really just umbrella terms for those things that might also be totally awesome, maddening, unique, perplexing and all of the things in between and just outside of these descriptors. 

Tools and theories of the past 

First up is highly disturbing if you’re squeamish. The chainsaw originated as a tool to aid in childbirth.  

Toby Saunders reports that Scottish doctors John Aitken and James Jeffray designed a flexible saw “‘to be used when there is ossification…,’ according to 1785’s Principles Of Midwifery, Or Puerperal Medicine.

The crude chainsaw was designed to aid and speed up the process of symphysiotomy (widening the pubic cartilage) and the removal of disease-laden bone.

The flexible saw, which later became the osteotome … was used to cut away flesh, cartilage, and bone from the mother during childbirth if the baby became stuck in the birth canal.” 

Here’s one more article on the matter. 

Also disturbing, in Big Think’s Is consciousness an illusion? 5 experts explain, Melanie Mitchell, a professor at the Sante Fe Institute says that just several decades ago, many used to believe that infants didn’t feel pain, so there would be surgeries done on newborns without anesthesia (around 29 minutes). Thankfully, our understanding of how consciousness develops is expanding. 

In another glance back, Nikki Lee reports on aluminum cup baby mits. 

Lee writes: “My father wrote about remembering seeing his baby brother, born in 1933, wearing the same aluminum cups that he himself wore as an infant. 

According to Evan Michelson, star of the Science Channel series, ‘Oddities,’ the strange sounding devices were actually common in the early 20th century.

‘They would go over the hands and the lower part of the arm to prevent the babies from scratching themselves or others,’ Michelson said…

The metal balls make a weird clicking noise when banged together that Michelson admits would sound ‘creepy’ coming out of the nursery.” 

Also of decades ago, after reading The postpartum experience,  (which deserves its own Weird Findings segment in itself) Karin Cadwell shared, “When I had babies you went to your six week visit to get permission to drive again. Somehow, we thought using your feet on pedals would make your uterus fall out before six weeks!”  

These examples absurd, they are a good reminder to reflect on the products and practices we accept today but may one day wince at. In some ways, it might be argued that not much has changed. This essay by Katherine Harvey explores how “medieval parenting was full of familiar dilemmas…from mansplaining about breastfeeding to debates on developmental toys.”  

Our current, curious culture 

Brilliant ones are putting strange cultural practices of today into perspective.  For instance, while rooming-in, co-sleeping, and bedsharing are getting more attention in the public health space and beyond, the conversations are limited. I’ve noticed that the focus is typically 1. On infant safety and 2. Always quantified. That is, bedsharing is framed in terms of being inherently risky and its function mainly to make more milk and sleep more.  Elena Bridgers of Motherhood Until Yesterday wrote a beautiful piece about sleeping with her children with a different takeaway. Her sentiment is so relatable, so the Weird Finding here is that I have never read about bed sharing in this light with a focus on relationship.

Another glorious reflection comes from Valerie McClain in Fear of Falling. It’s commentary on how we approach learning to breastfeed.  

McClain writes:

“If we treated babies who were trying to walk like new mothers trying to breastfeed, how many babies would learn to walk? First we would tell babies that walking doesn’t matter. Walking isn’t important, so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t work out for you. Then we would tell babies that walking can be painful, and that is normal. Wheelchairs maybe needed for babies that fall down too much or are taking too long to learn how to walk. Babies will have walking classes in which an expert will explain the process of walking, the muscles involved, slides will be shown of the muscles used, and bright shiny wheelchairs will be part of the slide presentation. The expert will explain that she or he sells or rents wheelchairs, if you need them. The expert says that babies should try to walk; but not be surprised, if it doesn’t work out.”

The egg’s orbit 

Next up is a shift in how we frame human reproduction. Kelsey McEuen aka Wild Moon Doula offers commentary on a 2020 study by Fitzpatrick, et al: “Human reproduction is commonly portrayed as a gigantic marathon swimming event in which the fastest, fittest sperm wins the race and prize of fertilising the egg. Yet another male dominated fantasy about the creation of life. The notion that human sperm once ejaculated, begin a frantic race to reach the egg has completely overshadowed the real story of reproduction…in fact there is a communication system between the EGG and sperm. The egg has the ability to repel certain sperm with a molecular mechanism causing them to swim slower and also attract certain sperm by releasing a chemoattractant helping them move faster. Cervical mucus called L- Mucus helps filter out any low quality sperm, Bye Boy!…Once SHE makes her choice and the sperm begins to penetrate the egg, the egg then releases a chemical response that causes all of the other sperm’s heads to pop off. Yep, mass decapitation. And to keep things in perspective, the male sperm is the smallest cell in the human body while the female egg is the largest, who run the world? #girls” 

Rachel E. Gross has written about the “Macho sperm myth” too. Gross writes spiritedly in Ovaries Are Prone to ‘Exhaustion’ and ‘Fatigue.’ Or Are They? : “…We now know that the vagina is no passive receiver but a muscular organ lined with billions of microbes that have likely evolved with humans over millenniums. Recent research has shown that the egg is no patient damsel but a dynamic cell that undergoes brutal competition and draws flailing sperm into its orbit…” More on female power here. 

Tissue and fluid as a commodity

The placenta is generally considered medical waste, though in certain groups like some Indigenous groups, the placenta holds sacred significance so rituals and ceremonies are performed around the organ.

This is a fascinating story about how placental tissue was used to heal a burn victim’s face. 

We’ve conjured up ways to use other human tissue; in this case for cosmetic reasons. 

In a similar vein, products made from cow colostrum tout the ability to boost immune/gut health. This bovine hormone secretion is nature’s intention for the calf, just as the colostrum human mothers produce is designed to protect the human infant.  

Hanna Nur Afifah Yogar explores the treatment of non-human animals in The Price of Animal’s Soul: Late-Stage Capitalism, Animal Welfare and the Law which relates to the collection and commodification of bovine colostrum. 

And Julie Bindel shares her perspective on the commodification of human milk in  An Example of Capitalism Literally Milking the Poor: “The trade in breast milk commodifies the unique bond between a mother and child. Profit is being made from a source of nourishment that even impoverished women have access to. Unless, of course, exploiters decide to put a price on it. The milk trade is a market in hunger and misery.”

Check out the book Commodifying Bodies to dive further into the topic.

Decorating bodies  

Over the summer, Great Big Story did a feature on a Deq tattoo artist and her tradition. The practice uses tattoo ink made from breastmilk and soot. Artist Fatê Temel explains that the mother must be nursing a girl because it is believed that “the blessing of a girl brings prosperity.” (around 1:56) Temel goes on to explain that the milk is thought to speed the healing of the wound.

Babies with attitude 

Finally, I’ll leave you with this chuckle-inducing video of newborn facial expressions