“In a cross-cultural study of 173 societies (by Herbert Barry and L. M. Paxson of the University of Pittsburgh) 76 societies typically had mother and infant sharing a bed; in 42 societies they shared a room but not a bed; and in the remaining 55 societies they shared a room with a bed unspecified. There were no societies in which infants routinely slept in a separate room.” MotherRoomsStudyBedCrossesUniversityInfantPittsburgh Author:Melvin Konner
“Navajo infants get so attached to cradleboard that they cry to be tied into it. Kikuyu infants in Kenya get handed around several"mothers," all wives to one man. . . . Mothers in rural Guatemala keep their infants quiet, in dark huts. Middle-class American mothers talk a blue streak at them. Israeli kibbutz mothers give them over to a communal caretaker . . . Japanese mothers sleep with them. . . . All these tactics are compatible with normal health--physical and mental--and development in infancy. So one lesson for parents so far seems to be: Let a hundred flowers bloom.” MenGivingSeemsMotherParentDarkSleepClassWifeMiddleCryFlowerDevelopmentLessonsQuietNormalHundredBlueMiddle ClassOne ManTiedInfantTacticsIsraeliInfancyKenyaCompatibleStreaksHutsBlooming FlowerCaretakersGuatemalaNew Parents Author:Melvin Konner
