Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices

by Sarah Buckley, Ina May Gaskin (Foreword by)

Overview

An authoritative guide to natural childbirth and postpartum parenting options from an MD who home-birthed her own four children.

Sarah Buckley might be called a third-wave natural birth advocate. A doctor and a mother, she approaches the question of how a woman and baby might have the most fulfilling birth experience with respect for the wisdom of both medical science and the human body. Using current medical and epidemiological research plus women's experiences (including her own), she demonstrates that what she calls "undisturbed birth" is almost always healthier and safer than high-technology approaches to birth. Her wise counsel on issues like breastfeeding and sleeping during postpartum helps extend the gentle birth experience into a gentle parenting relationship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587613227
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	12/02/2008
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	913,517
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

SARAH BUCKLEY, MD, is an internationally known authority on natural birthing and parenting choices. She has published numerous articles in Mothering magazine and Midwifery Today. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.

 THE AUTHOR SCOOP

How long did it take you to write this book?
Around ten years since I wrote the first material, and around 9 months to rewrite and put it all together.

What was the hardest thing about writing a book?
Combining it with looking after 4 children

When did you know you were a writer?
When I was 10, I told my class teacher I wanted to be an author!

Favorite childhood book?
I was a precocious reader, I read Jane Eyre at age 10 and loved Wuthering Heights.

If you had to boil your book’s message down to one sentence, what would it be?
Trust your body, trust your baby, follow your instincts

What are you working on now?
A commissioned report on the hormonal orchestration of labor

If you had a superpower, what would it be?
Sorting things out on every level, which includes a special talent for removing embedded hair ties from Barbie hair.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ina May Gaskin 2

Introduction 4

Part 1 Gentle Birth

1 Reclaiming Every Woman's Birth Right 8

2 Vision and Tools for Instinctive Birth 12

Emma's Birth-Sweet and Oceanic 20

3 Healing Birth, Healing the Earth 25

Zoe's Birth-Challenge and Transformation 32

4 Your Body, Your Baby, Your Choice: A Guide to Making Wise Decisions 37

5 Ultrasound Scans: Cause for Concern 78

6 Undisturbed Birth: Mother Nature's Blueprint for Safety, Ease, and Ecstasy 95

Maia's Birth-A Family Celebration 128

7 Epidurals: Risks and Concerns for Mothers and Babies 132

8 Leaving Well Enough Alone: Natural Perspectives on the Third Stage of Labor 154

Jacob's Placenta 185

9 Cesarean Surgery: The Whole Story 193

10 Choosing Homebirth 204

Jacob's Waterbirth-Perfect Timing 212

Part 2 Gentle Mothering

11 Love, Attachment, and Your Baby's Brain: How Gentle Early Parenting Promotes Lifelong Well-Being 217

12 Breastfeeding: The Gift of a Lifetime 234

Bees, Baboo, and Boobies: My Breastfeeding Career 241

13 Babies, Mothers, and the Science of Sharing Sleep 247

Ten Tips for Safe Sleeping 263

Epilogue: Becoming a Parent 267

Resources 273

Acknowledgments 279

Notes 281

Index 342