Birthing among most American Indian and Alaska Native groups was a very natural and normative event. Yet in descriptions of native women one frequently reads that women "would leave the march when camps were moving, give birth, and run with the newborn child to rejoin the band." In the more contemporary reports of public-health workers, it is frequently noted that native women seldom cry out during the birth process. What these stereotypic descriptions indicate is that many people view Native American birthing practices through the lens of romance and imagination. Such views also prompt the curious to explore the ethnographic facts that surround the act of childbirth and to reflect upon the traditions that operated within American Indian societies and separated them from other peoples.
Because many recent studies of North American cultures present a typical life cycle within each community, birthing information is readily available for groups as diverse as the Inuits of the Arctic, the Haidas and Tlingits of the Northwest Coast, the Pomos of California, the Zunis of the American Southwest, and many others. Although each group maintained specific rituals that set it apart from others, several general trends can be seen, most of which are apparent in the case of the Lakota peoples of the Great Plains. The following discussion presents Lakota birthing practices as typical of such practices among North American Indians.
As was true of many other tribes, the Lakotas did not surround the period of pregnancy with restrictive taboos or practices. Women who were pregnant might avoid certain foods and be excluded from certain ceremonies, but they would otherwise function within the community as they always had. When a woman went into labor, soft skins were arranged within a lodge and the individual was instructed to kneel in the center of the area and grasp a tipi pole for support. The prospective mother was assisted by a group of experienced, elder women; young girls and males were excluded. Elder women would oversee the birthing process, occasionally placing their arms around the mother's midsection if difficulties arose. Following the birth, these same elders would assist in the expulsion of the placenta and would be responsible for severing the umbilical cord. A six-inch section of the cord would be saved by these midwives, to be dried and placed in a special pouch usually made the shape of a turtle or lizard. These shapes were seen in the various constellations of the prairie sky, and the pouches were believed to call down protective spirits to stand watch over the child.
Following the birth, Lakota children were generally anointed with bear grease that had been scented with beaver castor. Elders believed that the ceremony would instill the strength of the bear and the industry of the beaver in the child's character. The Lakotas would also place a leather cap decorated with quillwork on the infant's head for protection and to ensure the proper closing of the fontanel. Brown powder from a prairie mushroom was used as a diaper substitute. Other tribes used moss or other absorbent substances to provide a sanitary method of disposing of bodily wastes. The child was then placed in a cradleboard made of wood or rawhide that was covered with skins. Though most frequently noted on the Great Plains among groups like the Lakotas, cradleboards were observed in many parts of the continent, from the Southwest to the Great Lakes and the Northeast. Even where cradleboards were not used (as in the Arctic, where wood was in short supply), children were typically swaddled to induce quiet and to free mothers so they might fulfill their many other responsibilities.
Following the birth, Lakota mothers were given special herb teas and a nutritious broth made from buffalo meat. They did not immediately nurse the baby, because the first milk was thought not to be healthy. Instead, a well-respected elder was invited to remove the first milk. To be invited to perform this service was considered a great honor to both the elder and the child, as the Lakotas believed that in this way the character of the elder would be transferred to the newborn child. Afterward the elder would be presented with gifts and the child would be free to nurse from the mother.
After the child was placed in the cradleboard, he or she would be presented to the father and his extended family. A respected man or woman would later be invited to present the child with a name at a public ceremony that was generally followed by gift giving and feasting. The Lakotas would then declare the child to be one of the pte oyate (buffalo people). Other tribes would perform similar ceremonies to welcome the newborn into their communities. These generally involved naming, the honoring of elder relative, and community celebration. The birth and welcoming of a child were heralded events. The Lakotas called children wakan yesha, "like the sacred," reflecting the extent to which the arrival of a new life was associated with the mystery of life and death and was a reminder of how closely human beings lived to spiritual power and spiritual forces.
Although childbirth was frequently described, lactation is not a firm part of the ethnographic record. Despite the fact that most early research was carried out by men who were either uninterested in childbirth or unable to collect information on the subject, it is known that nursing often continued for five or six years. This practice may have been encouraged by the difficult conditions many Native Americans endured, particularly in hunting and gathering societies, or perhaps because women who nurse become pregnant less frequently, and it also had the benefit of extending the intervals between the birth of children in a family.
See also
Child Rearing.
Beatrice Medicine
Lakota
Wakpala, South Dakota
