- To be born is to enter the age of the microbe - a newborn baby’s immune systems need the microbe of their mother’s bodies. Modern hospital births are afraid of the microbes of the mother, why? A birthing mother does not need to be sterilized before holding her newborn baby who just came out of her womb!
- A woman and her body instinctively know how to give birth – as long as modern medicine doesn’t interfere, she should be able to complete this quite naturally and skillfully – all she needs is some support or partnering
- The mother’s brain activity can inhibit natural birth, to mimic mammals her neocortex shuts down during birth – stimulation of bright light, talking, intrusive monitoring or tests, nurses coming in and out of the labor room – this actually stimulate the brain at the exact time that it needs to be going into more of a meditative zone in order to perform the task of labor.
- TRUST: the female body, nature, the birthing baby
– we are all here because we were born, and because before the age of
modern medicine generations and generations before us were quite capable
at that task.
- Women have the strength and determination to give birth, we are not helpless and incompetent when it comes to birthing and nursing – why is the message in modern culture consistently reinforcing that erroneous belief?
Michel Odent, a leading obstetrician and childbirth specialist, claims that men should stay away from childbirth as while for many men, attending the birth of a child is a momentous and emotional occasion, the father's presence can lead to his partner needing a caesarean delivery, and even to marriage break-ups and mental illness. Odent also believes the mother-to-be's labour can be longer, more painful and more complicated because she senses his anxiety and becomes nervous. Babies' arrival in the world would be more straightforward if women were left alone with only a midwife to help them, as they used to be.
"The ideal birth environment involves no men in general. Having been involved for more than 50 years in childbirths in homes and hospitals in France, England and Africa, the best environment I know for an easy birth is when there is nobody around the woman in labour apart from a silent, low-profile and experienced midwife – and no doctor and no husband, nobody else," Odent told the Observer. "In this situation, more often than not, the birth is easier and faster than what happens when there are other people around, especially male figures – husbands and doctors."
He links it to the "industrialisation of childbirth", when women began giving birth in hospital rather than at home and wanted someone to support them during the process. Studies show that men now attend for some or all of more than 90% of births in the UK.
The presence of men during their partner's labour produces adrenaline, which makes the woman tense and slows her production of the hormone oxytocin, which is vital for birth, says Odent. "If she can't release oxytocin she can't have effective contractions, and everything becomes more difficult. Labour becomes longer, more painful and more difficult because the hormonal balance in the woman is disturbed by the environment that's not appropriate because of the presence of the man."
Duncan Fisher, chief executive of the website Dad Info, said: "I think Odent is wrong and is not basing his argument on evidence either that it damages men or their relationships with mothers. Of course, not all men are nervous and a lot of women would be even more nervous without their partner there. Mothers want them there because it is not home."
But Mary Newburn, of the National ChildbirthTrust, said that although men being present was now considered normal, some felt under pressure to attend their child's birth because of cultural expectations. She wouldn't go as far as saying that men are always unhelpful in labour, "but it's not men's right to be there. The most important thing is that the woman feels safe, secure and supported, so if she wants to have a woman around instead, that's fine."
Odent said that men witnessing childbirth can ruin the sexual attraction between a couple and lead to them becoming just good friends and then getting divorced. Some men end up suffering from a widely-unrecognised male equivalent of postnatal depression, he added. Others end up playing golf or computer games – or even walking out and never returning – as they try to avoid their new reality. A few end up with schizophrenia or other mental disorders, he said.
Grace Thomas, a consultant midwife with the Aneurin Bevan health board in Wales, has studied expectant fathers' attitudes towards pregnancy. Her research has found that new fathers may undergo emotional turmoil before and after their child's birth as they adjust. "Perhaps the midwifery profession has contributed to encouraging men to attend their child's birth without understanding the impact of the birth both on them and on the mother. It's important that we understand the psychology of the family unit and how to best help and prepare the father to attend his child's birth," she said Thomas.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/18/men-birth-labour-baby
