Recommendations
by Birth Balance
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Books - Birth Related
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Birth Without Violence, The Book that Revolutionized the Way We Bring Our Children into the World by Frederick Legoyer (NY: Ballentine Books, 1990.) This book examines what birth FEELS like for the baby. Scientific explanations are kept to a minimum, so Leboyer really brings home why it is that babies cry in agony. It's because they are in agony, and Leboyer was one of the first to say it doesn't have to be like that. Indirectly, he may have saved thousands of babies from a life time of unhappiness. In this book one gets to realise what it is like for the baby, he really puts you into their shoes (so to speak). This is a must read. Buy extra copies and give them to your friends who are expecting a baby. |
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The Birth Book : Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth, by William, M.D. Sears, Martha, R.N. Sears, (Little Brown & Company, February 1994.) In this definitive guide to birthing, the authors of The Baby Book give expectant parents the information and practical advice they need to plan a safe and joyful birthhing experience.In the Birth Book, William and Marthe Sears, nationally renowned pedriatic spetialist and parents of eight children, thoroughly explore the choices couples face when anticipating the birth of their child. |
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Birth
Reborn. How Childbirth Can Be What Women Want It to
Be - and How Mothers and Babies Both Benefit, by Michel
Odent, (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1984.) |
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The Continuum Concept : In Search of Happiness Lost, by Jean Liedloff, (Perseus Publishing Company, 1986.) Jean Liedloff, an American writer, spent two and a half years deep in tha Soth American Jungle living with Stone Age Indians. The experince demolished her Westerfn preconceptions of how we should live and led her to radically different view of what human nature really is. She offers a new understanding of how we have lost much of our natural well-being and shows us paractical ways to regain it for our children and for ourselves. |
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Immaculate Deception II : Myth, Magic & Birth, by Suzanne Arms, (Celestial Arts Publishing, 1994.) Author, photographer, and speaker Suzanne Arms goes to the roof of what troubles childbirth today and shows us the wisdom inhereht in the natural process. In the new Inmaculate Deception II, she reveals how modern birth practices evolved, challenges commonly held beliefs, and explores the subjects of pain and fear in birth. hers is a compassionate yet porvocative voice amid the present controversy surrounding birth and the care of babies. In this groundbreaking book, Arms renews her commitment to helping women reclaim one of the most profound experiences in their lives. Here is a clear vision of what is possible and how everyone can benefit from changing the way our culture approaches birth. |
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Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding: Protecting the Mother and Baby Continuum, by Mary Kroeger with Linda J. Smith, (Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2003) Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding: Protecting the Mother and Baby Continuum is Mary Kroeger’s examination of the spectacular bond between the human mother and her newborn from the perspective of labor, birth, and breastfeeding. With 25 years of experience as a nurse, midwife, and international maternal and child health consultant, Kroeger addresses the failure of both western and developing country breastfeeding promoters and supporters to link the impact of certain childbirth interventions on the readiness of mother or newborn to breastfeed. Kroeger’s comprehensive text is enhanced by the expertise of contributor Linda J. Smith, IBCLC. As a lactation consultant for 25 years, Smith makes a significant new contribution to the science of lactation management in the chapter on "Physics and Forces" as she looks more closely at the mechanics of labor, labor interventions, and how these affect mother and newborn. |
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In Labor, Women and Power in the Birthplace, by Barbara Katz Rothman, (W. W. Norton & Company, 1991.) For most of recorded history, pregnancy was considered a normal condition that women dealt with themselves. Yet recently it has instead come to be viewed by medicine as, in effect, a phathological condition requiring complex technological, surgical, and pharmacological intervention. This landmark study presents the first systematic feminist analysis of not only how chilbirth is managed in America, but Why it is managed the way it is. How did women come to loose control of pregnancy and childbirth to a male-dominated medical profession? Are midwifery and home birth better alternatives for pregnant women? With implications far beyond the delivery room, In Labor speaks to central questions of wome's identity and autonomy. |
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Spiritual Midwifery, by Ina May Gaskin, (Book Pub Company, April 1990.) Spiritual Midwifery is a book primarily written by women about wome's experiences, expresed in women's terms. Because women tend to form their deepest attitudes about childbirth by listening to the stories of others, included are a lot of women's own stories of their pregnancies, their births, their miscarriages. What makes these stories rise above the usual value given information that is anecdotal is that these come from a community of women who knew one another intimately. The collection of information in this book will aid women in attaining the insight that can lead to power that equals that of men. |