The Movement of Natural Childbirth

Grantly Dick-Read

In his book Childbirth Without Fear, first published in the 1940s, Dr. Grantly Dick-Read brought the principles of natural childbirth to public attention. His philosophy was to try to lessen and hopefully eliminate fear and tension, and the pain that resulted from these choices, through proper education and emotional support.

The Grantly Dick-Read method taught women how to deal with tension, but it placed a strong emphasis on the fact that knowledge relieves fear and prevents tension, which in turn controls pain.

To help do this, she developed training courses that included breathing control and muscle relaxation exercises, information on what to expect in a normal situation, and what women can do to help themselves.

His method also taught the mother to seek support in the form of guidance, reassurance, and sympathy. Grantly Dick-Read placed great emphasis on preparing for parenthood and childbirth itself.

psychoprophylaxis

This involves training in breathing methods in preparation for labor. The techniques were pioneered in Russia and introduced to the West by Dr. Fernand Lamaze. The Lamaze method is by far the most popular method in the United States and is the basis for teaching by the National Childbirth Trust in Great Britain.

It encourages women to take responsibility for themselves, to associate with their peers, friends and counsellors. She highly values ​​teamwork. The woman must prepare her body for the entire pregnancy with special exercises and she has to train her mind so that it automatically responds to each type of contraction that she will feel in labor.

Your partner acts as a coach and emotional support. He is expected to attend her course with her mother-to-be and cooperate with her at home in conditioning exercises, and he coaches, coaxes and comforts her through labor and delivery.

Leboyer’s philosophy

This is based on several basic precepts and is more about the baby than its mother and her progress through labor. Dr. Frederick Leboyer in his book Birth without violence states that the newborn baby feels everything, reflecting all the emotions around him – anger, anxiety, impatience, etc. – and that the baby is extremely sensitive through his skin, his ears, his eyes. .

For this reason, he believes that any stimulation to the baby should be minimized with dim lights, few sounds, little handling and immersion in body-warm water so that the baby’s entrance into the world is as little different from his life in the womb as possible. .

This teaching, in fact, is not entirely in line with the physiology of what happens at the time of the baby’s birth. It is the contact with air at a temperature other than body temperature that causes the baby to take its first breath to initiate the crucial initial function of the lungs and causes the baby’s blood circulation to change from fetal to mature.

It is also not true that a baby’s hearing is so sensitive that it is disturbed by the noises around it. The sound of the uterine vessels inside the uterus is similar to a noisy vacuum cleaner. Leboyer also believes that the mother is an “enemy and a monster” to the child, she pushes and crushes him into the birth passage. He likes that she tortures her. Many women oppose this point of view, since it minimizes, even diminishes, the role of the mother.

Dr. Leboyer believes that the baby should not be touched by foreign material but by human skin. The ideal place for the laurel is to place it upside down on the mother’s abdomen and cover it with her arms. It has been shown by experiment, not by Leboyer, that this is much more efficient at keeping the baby from losing heat than ceiling heaters. Research has shown that a baby can remove mucus from his airways more efficiently when he lies on his mother’s stomach than with a suction tube.

Leboyer suggests closing the curtains and blinds in the delivery room and dimming the lights. Some medical authorities object to this because they say it is not possible to assess the baby’s condition in dim light.

Few centers practice the pure Leboyer method, but many hospitals and community midwives practice Leboyer-based delivery. Hospitals were slow to adopt Leboyer because research has shown that Leboyer babies seem to receive no added benefit compared to others, although many ‘Leboyer mothers’ may feel that they do.

Dr Michel Odent

A French physician named Michel Odent has advocated placing the mother in a cozy, home-like environment, giving her complete freedom to act as she wishes and encouraging her to reach a new level of animal consciousness where she lets go of her inhibitions and returns to a fairly biological state. primitive.

Dr. Odent believes that high levels of endorphins, the body’s natural narcotics, should be allowed to have free reign in the mother’s body. He logically argues that if a woman is given painkillers and pain relievers, her endorphins are cut off, thus depriving her of the benefit of natural pain relief.

Dr. Odent’s clinic at Pithiviers in France, where he pioneered his natural labor techniques, became a hub for those who wished to change views and practices in childbirth.

Dr. Odent believes that during labor there should be music, soft furnishings, and a relaxed environment. A woman going into labor should be allowed to sit, walk, stand, eat and drink, and do whatever she wants. Women should not be interfered with in any way and can assume any position that is most comfortable for them at any stage of labor. Left to their own devices, many women assume a position on all fours, which seems to ease the pain. Later in birth, many stand or squat so that the force of gravity can assist them, a natural practice practiced by most primitive tribes.

Odent encourages the supported squat in which he, or the woman’s partner, stands behind her, takes her weight under her armpits and upper arms and allows her to bend her knees and place her weight on your partner’s arm.

Dr. Odent believes that birthing pools, which he now uses for many home water births, should be viewed primarily as a means of pain relief. The birth itself does not need to be underwater, although Dr. Odent is very happy to take the baby into bath water if that happens. There seems to be no evidence that an underwater birth is dangerous for the baby, as long as the heads are brought out of the water immediately.

Dr. Odent’s methods have always had low rates of episiotomy, forceps, and cesarean section. The supported squatting position is the one that prevents severe perineal tears during childbirth. Because the mother has been in an upright position when the baby emerges, she remains sitting upright with the cord still intact and the baby in her lap.

The baby immediately smells the mother’s skin and this is believed to be important for the baby in establishing lactation. Within a few seconds, most mothers instinctively pick the baby up and onto the breast. It is not necessary to tell the partner to surround the mother and baby with her own body and arms. Each one will do what comes naturally to them in these very personal moments.

Yoga-based methods

This is not just for those who already practice yoga. During labor, a woman must focus her awareness on being totally one with what is happening to her. She, through yogic methods, is able to control her consciousness according to her capacity and tolerance, so that at times she is able to distract herself from the contractions and at others, get totally involved in them. She can use meditation and chanting supported by the spiritual participation of yoga groups.

Practitioners of yogic methods believe that a woman can handle childbirth in a mature and serene manner. Yogic labor education helps in the belief that a woman has the ability to create or destroy her own pain and joy during childbirth.