New Babies documentary - Page 2

[lach]

Originally Posted by crystal_buffaloe

I saw it Sunday and thought it was really beautifully done; I'd highly recommend it.

It was really just incredibly fascinating seeing how similar and how different the babies are across four continents. Especially because of the way it's done, probably what you take away depends quite a bit on your prior experiences and expectations going in. I could tell that some audience members were just horrified at parts, and others saw it as just a bunch of cute footage, and others as a comment on the differences between rasing babies in first and third world countries.

I also appreciated that there weren't any subtitles or narration, but I did wonder about a few things. Does anybody who's seen it know if the two African mothers were co-wives? Or mother and daughter? Or just relatives/friends?

I wonder too how the reactions would differ depending on whether you have children. i saw the trailer with some childless friends, and they were HORRIFIED that people were laughing when the Namibian baby has the tantrum, and when the Japanese baby gets frustrated from her stacking toy. I personally thought that both scenes were hilarious because my kids have done both a million times.

[essnce629]

I loved the movie as well! Beautifully done and the Mongolian and African baby were just hilarious! There's lots of nursing scenes too, which I think is great for the average mainstream American to see. They made it seem totally normal and just a part of every day life. There's even a tandem nursing scene and a scene where the African baby is nursing while standing up-- mom stops walking and just bends forward so she can nurse for a second! We never see the American baby nurse though-- she gets fed with a bottle at one point. They don't seem like a super mainstream family though-- I'm pretty sure they were cosleeping, dad wore baby in an Ergo, and baby didn't have a ton of toys and the ones she did have were mostly wooden (and they were in San Fran). Lots of babywearing in the movie as well!

[laketahoemama]

Originally Posted by essnce629

We never see the American baby nurse though-- she gets fed with a bottle at one point. They don't seem like a super mainstream family though-- I'm pretty sure they were cosleeping, dad wore baby in an Ergo, and baby didn't have a ton of toys and the ones she did have were mostly wooden (and they were in San Fran).

I read an interview with the American family on the website. Hattie was born at home but had to go to the hospital later for antibiotics. On her bio it says her parents are ecologically-minded
Mom also talks about nursing her in the interview, but I was a little disappointed that there was no footage of that.

[mizmerricat]

Just thinking out loud...but I wonder if the lack of nursing footage for the American baby might have been partly an editorial choice? To emphasize the cultural attitude differences in breastfeeding?
Anyone know how the baby was actually fed?

[ASusan]

We saw it this weekend with DS, who is 31 mos. It kept his attention pretty well through the entire film. For 3 days, he kept telling people that he saw a movie about babies. (That's about all he could report.)

I think it's neat that the first movie he saw in a theater was Babies.

[juliebee52]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but a friend of mine saw it on Mothers Day. She said it was cute except for "all the National Geographic boobies." It makes me sad that she was bothered by the nursing in the movie. I don't like that nursing is so taboo or "National Geographic" in America. It's almost like some people think it is uncivilized to nurse in public.

[lach]

I took my daughter this weekend, and she loved it! She was so silent the whole time (which was my fear). The only time she said anything was in the scene where the Japanese baby had her feet written on. Let's just say we had a little "incident" involving a stamp pad and my daughter's feet and footprints all over my rug recently, so she piped up (very loudly) saying "We do NOT write on our feet, Mommy!"

[Thursday Girl]

I am goign to see this tomorrow, thanks for the reviews. It has made me thatmuch more excited. I am taking my 15 month old and hoping she will nap through most of it, but I have a feeling the babies will hold her interest pretty well if she wakes up

[Mal85]

Oh, I can't wait to see this! It isn't playing in any theaters near me, so I'm afraid I'll have to wait until it comes out on DVD. I have shown the preview to my 14.5 month old a few times and she is enthralled every time. I think she'll love it!

Anyone know if you can find it online somewhere?

[ellairiesmom]

nak-
i would like to go with dh & the kids tmrw nite...question for u mamas...dd1 is 2.5 & has gone to 2 movies. she loved them but a few times did comment on the scene or say something back to a character etc. if she did that here would it be ok since it will be sooo quiet? or worse since it is that style of movie?

dd2 might make some baby noises here & there but i know if i nurse her she will be fine & will either watch, nurse or sleep...

[Thursday Girl]

if you can go to a week day matinee the theatre's are usually pretty empty. (my 15 month old and I had the theatre to ourselves today when we saw it, good thing too, she got excited about the babies and started doing her high pitch scream thing. If that isn't possible I think it would be okay to take your dd, anyone seeing babies would understand.

(it was so awesome by the way, I want to see it again, I have it in my netflix queue already.)

[Marimami]

We just brought my almost 6 year old today. It was her first real theater experience. It was just so wonderful to chat with her about it afterwards. She was disappointed they didn't show the babies being born, though.

Holli

[SilverFish]

i loved this movie. the best was that the theatre was filled with babies and toddlers... everyone was very well-behaved (and even when they weren't, it blended in pretty well with the movie noise).

the namibian women were daughter and mother i believe...

i loved how much time the mongolian and namibian babies spend outside, compared to the japanese and american babies, who barely seem to go outside at all. and i loved seeing how the mongolian baby spends a lot of time exploring by himself, whereas the namibian baby is always surrounded by her community. the namibian family had such a rich social life which i was really a bit jealous of... obviously there are challenges too, but the two women hung out all day chatting and doing their hair and playing with their kids...

the american and japanese moms were a lot like me ... interesting to see that even in different geographic locations, there is a huge group of people with basically the same parenting styles. i definitely learnt a lot about parenting from the namibian and mongolian moms though.

i think this is a must see for parents. i would happily watch 10 more movies following babies from different areas in the world.

[jessjgh1]

Originally Posted by crystal_buffaloe

I also appreciated that there weren't any subtitles or narration, but I did wonder about a few things. Does anybody who's seen it know if the two African mothers were co-wives? Or mother and daughter? Or just relatives/friends?

I thought I read on the Facebook page that they were sisters (or sisters in law). I was very curious to hear what they were actually saying because it seemed like they were chatting away about life(-; But that was just my curiousity, not at all necessary to the movie.

Loved it and went with my 2 kids- lots of happy giggles for them. I believe this is starting to show now in Europe. (We saw it mothers day weekend, but I just happened to see this thread searching for books for my dh to read to my 6 yo)

Jessica

[jessjgh1]

Grr, I lost my post, but I remembered that there was one part that I would have missed if I hadn't heard about it ahead of time, but did anyone notice that the Mongolian baby was tethered to the bed from time to time when the parents were out?
It is interesting (at least to me) that the majority of the movie is really of the babies alone, except maybe for the African mothers. They seemed to always be in the background going along with their lives. I know in part that this was the directors effort to catch the moments of babies, but I found it interesting how often many of the babies seemed to be very much alone.
I've felt that both of my babies required my almost constant presense by their nature, so it was a very foreign feeling to see babies alone so much. Not to say that I found myself playing baby games all the time/interacting with my child constantly, but going about life as much with a baby in a sling or whatever. And I did catch a few times where the movie showed how easy it is just to get lost in being a parent and time just goes by so quickly.

Jessica

[lach]

Originally Posted by laketahoemama

I read an interview with the American family on the website. Hattie was born at home but had to go to the hospital later for antibiotics. On her bio it says her parents are ecologically-minded
Mom also talks about nursing her in the interview, but I was a little disappointed that there was no footage of that.

I thought it was interesting that the American baby was a homebirth, but the African baby's parents agreed to it (according to their interview on the website) entirely because the production was going to pay for prenatal care and a doctor to attend her delivery.

[LiLStar]

Didn't the African mother have a home birth too? I thought I saw an interview in which she said (after watching the completed movie) that she thought it was weird seeing other babies born in the hospital and that she had all ..9? of her babies "here in the village" can't remember the exact quote..

[UrbanSimplicity]

Ec ?

I loved it and think it is a great reinforcement of our AP ways - I cant wait to share it with my dds 2 and 4 who will be enthralled, I predict. The san fran and japanese worlds seemed SO excessively sterile compared to the african and mongolian.

Can someone clarify - I believe there is an EC scene - african mom holds baby out in front of her then wipes what looks to be yellow breastmilk poop on her leg, did i see that right? I am a practitioner of ec, but even in Africa I'd at least use a . . . leaf or something