6 CHAPTER 1 | The Essence of Anthropologybouts. Some mothers incorrectly interpret the crying as in-
dicating that the babies are receiving insufficient breast milk
and consequently switch to feeding them bottled formula,
proven to be less healthy. In extreme cases, a baby’s cries
may provoke physical abuse. But the benefits of co-sleeping
go beyond significant reductions in crying: Infants who are
breastfed receive more stimulation important for brain de-
velopment, and they are apparently less susceptible to sud-
den infant death syndrome (SIDS or “crib death”). There are
benefits to the mother as well: Frequent nursing prevents
early ovulation after childbirth, it promotes loss of weight
gained during pregnancy, and nursing mothers get at least as
much sleep as mothers who sleep apart from their infants.^1
Why do so many mothers continue to sleep separately
from their infants? In the United States the cultural values
of independence and consumerism come into play. To
begin building individual identities, babies are provided
with rooms (or at least space) of their own. This room also
provides parents with a place for the toys, furniture, and
other paraphernalia associated with “good” and “caring”
childrearing in the United States.
Anthropology’s historical emphasis on studying tradi-
tional, non-Western peoples has often led to findings that runWhile other social sciences have concentrated pre-
dominantly on contemporary peoples living in North
American and European (Western) societies, histori-
cally anthropologists have focused primarily on non-
Western peoples and cultures. Anthropologists work
with the understanding that to fully access the complex-
ities of human ideas, behavior, and biology, all humans,
wherever and whenever, must be studied. Anthropolo-
gists work with a time depth that extends back millions
of years to our pre-human ancestors. A cross-cultural,
comparative, and long-term evolutionary perspective
distinguishes anthropology from other social sciences.
This all-encompassing approach also guards against
culture-bound theories of human behavior: that is, the-
ories based on assumptions about the world and reality
that come from the researcher’s own particular culture.
As a case in point, consider the fact that infants in the
United States typically sleep apart from their parents. To
people accustomed to multi-bedroom houses, cribs, and
car seats, this may seem normal, but cross-cultural research
shows that co-sleeping, of mother and baby in particular, is
the norm. Further, the practice of sleeping apart favored in
the United States dates back only about 200 years.
Recent studies have shown that separation of mother and
infant has important biological and cultural consequences.
For one thing, it increases the length of the infant’s cryingAlthough infants in the United States typically sleep apart from their parents, cross-cultural
research shows that co-sleeping, of mother and baby in particular, is the rule. Without the
breathing cues provided by someone sleeping nearby, an infant is more susceptible to sud-
den infant death syndrome (SIDS), a phenomenon in which a 4- to 6-month-old baby stops
breathing and dies while asleep. The highest rates of SIDS are found among infants in the
United States. The photo on the right shows a Nenet family sleeping together in their chum
(reindeer-skin tent). Nenet people are arctic reindeer pastoralists living in Siberia.Visual Counterpoint© Michael Newman/PhotoEdit © Marie-Stenzel/National Geographic Image Collection
culture-bound Looking at the world and reality based on the
assumptions and values of one’s own culture.(^1) Barr, R. G. (1997, October). The crying game. Natural History, 47. Also,
McKenna, J. J. (2002, September–October). Breastfeeding and bedsharing.
Mothering, 28–37; and McKenna, J. J., & McDade, T. (2005, June). Why
babies should never sleep alone: A review of the co-sleeping controversy
in relation to SIDS, bedsharing, and breast feeding. Pediatric Respiratory
Reviews 6 (2), 134–152.