A gentle birth reduces stress for both mothers and babies.
In 1975, a French obstetrician named Frederick Leboyer published a book called "Birth Without Violence," advocating a new way of bringing babies into the world. He believed that cold, sterile delivery rooms, bright lights and loud noises created excessive stress for newborns. He recommended gentle births in peaceful environments, free of unnecessary medical intervention, although he did not oppose pain relief for mothers when needed.
Instructions
1. Dim the lights in the room in which you will give birth. Leave enough light that your birth attendant can see to do her work, but keep the room dim enough that your baby's eyes will not be disturbed by the light and can adjust easily.
2. Adjust the temperature in the room until it feels comfortably warm. This helps your baby adjust more comfortably to the environment outside the womb.
3. Keep the room quiet while you give birth. Ask everyone present to speak in whispers if they must talk at all. You can play soft music if you like, though.
4. Ask your birth attendant to place your baby on your abdomen immediately after birth, provided that your baby does not need any immediate medical attention. Massage your baby gently.
5. Wait until your baby's umbilical cord has stopped pulsing before cutting it. Your birth attendant can cut the cord, your baby's father can cut it or you can cut it yourself. Allowing the cord to stop pulsing before cutting the cord gives your baby all the oxygen-rich blood in the cord and allows him to begin breathing when he's ready; he does not need to gasp for air immediately after birth.
6. Bathe your baby in a shallow basin of warm water at your bedside. Since you've just given birth, and may not have even delivered the placenta yet, you'll need assistance with this. Your baby will relax in the warm water, which resembles the environment inside the womb, thus easing his transition into the world.
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