It felt off

I was sitting by the fire tonight, watching Kumba cook and listening to an argument between two women in the family, when I heard an annoying sound.

Mariama was spoon feeding her baby, but he was lying down and screaming. The annoying sound was the bubbling of the food in his mouth, muffling the sound of the screams. I presume he was screaming for air, because it honestly sounded like she was drowning him in gruel.

Now, “behavior change” (pushed by development organizations the world over) isn’t really my thing. I just naturally assume people know better than me, and if they don’t, than as long as it isn’t killing them I guess I’m fine. Thing was, it sort of did sound like she was killing the baby.

So I roused myself and told her she shouldn’t feed a baby lying down, because that weird choked screaming was a bad thing. I’m convinced this was the right thing to say, but it still feels odd to instruct a woman with four children on childrearing.