Wisdom and Births

Few people know about the important field of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology (PPN), which studies the fascinating mind of the developing human embryo and newborn baby. More on PPN Surprisingly, this area of study receives very little attention from mainstream media, medical research and practice, and even in discussions for improving birth - which heavily focus on the rights and experiences of the mother.  What does PPN have to tell us about our babies, their experiences, and our potential as human beings? The following quotes are from a few of the leaders in PPN research and illuminate some important findings emerging from this incredible field.  "The truth is, much of what we have traditionally believed about babies is false. We have misunderstood and underestimated their abilities. They are not simple beings but complex and ageless - small creatures with unexpectedly large thoughts."  ~David Chamberlain, PhD - Babies Remember Birth (1988) * "PPN findings rev...

Have you ever considered birth from the perspective of the baby? It is likely that you haven't and it's probably because there is a pervasive belief in our culture that since we don't remember this time of our lives, we must not have the mental capacity to make judgements, feel emotions and even feel pain... yes seriously, pain. It was only in the early 1980s that the medical community was forced (by parents) to acknowledge babies can feel pain and to provide medication for surgeries, such as circumcision (1). But let's think think about this. Babies can feel, see, taste, hear, touch, suck, kick, grasp, and react to external and internal stimuli while in the womb... neurons are firing, cells are working... isn't it a wildly flawed assumption to think that experiences during this time of our life don't matter? Could it be possible that early experiences, such as those during pregnancy, birth, and infancy are stored within our incredible and rapidly developing bra...

This year's World Breastfeeding Week is highlighting the importance of breastfeeding peer counselors in optimizing the breastfeeding success of new and experienced mothers. With little more than half of all mothers exclusively breastfeeding past one week (1) , peer support is critical for increasing our population's health. Breastfeeding is important for the health of both mothers and babies. Breastfeeding helps a baby stay healthy and research shows that increased length and exclusivity of breastfeeding can decrease a baby's risk of contracting a number of illnesses such as otitis media (ear infections) and gastroenteritis, or dying from SIDS. The benefits of breastfeeding extend into childhood and beyond by decreasing the risk of childhood obesity, diabetes (type 1 & 2), and leukemia. For the mother, breastfeeding helps to protect against breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and type 2 diabetes. (2) "Compared with breastfed infants, formula-fed infants face higher ris...

What your pregnancy and birth care provider believes about birth WILL directly influence your birth experience. Whether it is not feeling supported because your doctor doesn't believe women can give birth without intervention; having your trust in yourself, your body and your baby undermined because the doctor is constantly searching for a sign of something wrong with the pregnancy or labor; or, the unhelpful pressure to just accept the epidural, or schedule the induction, you've waited too long for that baby (and they have a vacation coming up). An Obstetrician is trained as a surgeon. Trained to handle complications and emergencies during pregnancy and birth. ...but the majority of births will occur without complication. So what good does it do to have the majority of women attended and cared for by a surgeon? Especially a surgeon who doesn't believe birth works, without their interventions, most of the time!? It does us absolutely NO GOOD. In fact, it is the opposit...

It seems to make sense that "bed rest" during pregnancy, especially one that is threatening preterm labor or other complications, would be helpful. I mean, wouldn't staying in bed, rather than doing her normal activities, be a good thing for a mother and her baby? The answer is NO. Bed rest actually increases risks for the mother and baby and causes a great emotional and financial toll on many families. Understand that this is only referring to complete activity restriction and strict bed rest, not to say that pregnant women should not rest. You should listen to your body and rest when you need to, always. The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology published 3 articles in its recent June 2013 issue about bed rest and the unethical use of this practice. Let's take a look at the research and put this issue to rest ! THE ROOTS OF BED REST   (1) Historically, bed rest was intended for orthopedic ailments, but quickly spread to all areas of medicine, without question of it...

I was reading through all the comments on the Reddit post "what was marriage like in the first year?" and one of the most maddening (or saddening) recurrent themes was that of newly-wed couples who had had a baby together in their first year of marriage and felt the financial toll of having the baby was SO GREAT - it sometimes ended up causing major rifts in their relationships. Without fail, every post in which the Redditor described how children were the trigger of their financial downfall, they mentioned how expensive FORMULA AND DIAPERS were... *head smack* Babies aren't expensive... the crap we buy for them is! The choices we make about what we feed our baby, what we diaper and clothe them with, etc. Major corporations are making a huge profit off of American families, off of people like you and me, because their advertising works. We pass up the free, cheap, and often healthier options for the products we see advertised - in our face - everyday.   Babies do not ne...

  Happy One Year to Wisdom and Birth! WOW! I can't believe my birth blog is already One Year Old! I had wanted to start a birth blog for many years, but just never got around to learning how to conquer the IT nightmare that technology can be for me. Finally, with a little inspiration from a friend, I conquered the web and created Wisdom and Birth in July of 2012! My blog began simply, with a few posts of things I had created in the past, such as my DONA position paper and a book review, but I was lost with where to start and how to write to my new (and at the time non-existent) audience. Now, I have over 30 published posts and I am reaching out of the comfortable and safe topics (such as natural nipple creams ) and into the controversial ones like Ultrasounds and Pitocin ! When I began blogging as Wisdom and Birth I wasn't sure how much of my "voice" I wanted to put into my blog and how much of it I wanted to leave as "professional". You see, with my Bachel...