Controversial video - self attachment of the newborn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULno8FAmt0c
I first saw this video a few years ago. My initial response was how amazing that babies instinctively know how to do this, my second reaction was how will Moms who have had medicated births feel about these images.
What do you think?
Tracy
http://www.GentleBirthUSA.com
I first saw this video a few years ago. My initial response was how amazing that babies instinctively know how to do this, my second reaction was how will Moms who have had medicated births feel about these images.
What do you think?
Tracy
http://www.GentleBirthUSA.com
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Hiser on -
Wow. My home birth midwife has told me about this, but I was a bit skeptical until I saw this video. I had never heard of anything like this before meeting my midwife a few weeks ago! As a mom with a medicated first birth and had a lot of difficulties with breastfeeding, this video makes me both sad that I wasn't better informed/educated with my first, but really happy that I'm learning all this stuff now, before my second baby is born this summer. We can only make as good a decision as our information allows. I did the best I knew to do with my first. And I'm doing the same with my second. The choices I'm making are different, but I'm happy knowing I did everything I knew to do for each baby.
Thanks for sharing this video!
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Permalink Reply by Tracy Donegan on -
Hi Rachel,
It had the same effect on me. My son's birth in California was very medicalised and it was only when I was heavily involved in Doula work that I came across this video. Our new addition will be arriving at home next month (fingers crossed). It's definitely one of these tricky cases of wanting to get the information across without making a Mom feel guilty about the choices she made then.
Tracy
http://www.GentleBirthUSA.com
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Permalink Reply by Gwen Hamm on
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Oh Oh Oh...I really wanna do this! I'm gonna be a VBAC at home so I think I'll talk to my midwife to make sure she will leave us this long...usually it's not an issue just wanna be on the same page of course.
My first birth (my 2nd child) we started a home & after 5 hrs of pushing we transported for a C section. They FED her before I saw her & it was over an hour before I saw her! I was TICKED! Tied to the bed with those air socks but still TICKED!
I'm praying for a successful home birth this time. This is our last pregnancy (according to my DH) so I am praying hard.
I loved this video!
Gwen
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Permalink Reply by Jessica on
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Wow, this was incredible!!! I, too had a medicalized first birth and am hoping to have an all natural birth within the next 3 weeks.
Here's a totally off-based question from the video...how soon does the baby start to pee/poop? Is it horrible that I really want to try what they did in the video, but I'm worried about getting peed on??!!
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Permalink Reply by Jeannine Fisk on
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It's just pee and poo. It wipes off really easily :) Plus, your newborn hasn't digested anything except for the amniotic fluid. There won't be anything really truly unsanitary like what adults and solid-food kids have in their digestive track. My husband and I are doing elimination communication. We expect that we'll have misses and therefore get peed and pooed on once in while. I think that the best thing here is doing what's best for our babies and not worrying about a little pee or poop. There will be lots of that anyway :) Good luck on your birth! Hope everything goes as planned!
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Permalink Reply by RMK on -
To feel bad for the mothers shows empathy, however the truth cannot be hidden on account of saving some moms from feeling guilty over childbirth decisions that they have made or that medical professionals have made on their behalf. Knowledge is power and seeing these images will assist many families in making better choices for future births. Prior to learning about birth the way it was intended to be, I had two uneccessary inductions for doctor convenience and threats of birth weight being too high(my children weighed 7.5 and 8.13 at birth). I am now ttc and planning a home birth with little intervention and fiercely protecting my right to do so all because someone shared with me a better way. I do feel guilty that I didn't know any better in the past but when you know better, you do better.
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Permalink Reply by Marci For Birth Choice on -
Hold on here - why would any mother need to feel guilty about watching this video if she had a medicalized birth? I'm pro natural, but at the same time, why should a mother feel guilty about having a medicalized birth before she's been informed about the benefits of going natural? I think we all do the best for our unborn with the information we have at hand at the time; we need to remember that it's not like mom's who use painkillers during birth are usually given ALL the pros and cons about natural birth and medicated birth. Most mom's don't even realize the risks that are involved in medicalized births.
And for that matter, I don't think that mom's who wanted to go natural but ended up with a medicalized birth due to real medical emergencies should feel guilty either. In the end, we all have to do the best we can for safety and health of the baby. I can see a mom feeling some sadness that she never had self attachment of the newborn if she sees this video, but ultimately, I don't think she should feel guilty. And to be honest, a lot of people don't know that newborns can do this, so it's not like this info is widely available. The first time I heard about it was in Fit Pregnancy magazine where one of the celebs being interviewed mentioned that in Ireland midwives often let the baby crawl up and initiate nursing on their own.....
So we should all feel okay about passing around the good news that this is possible! I'm sure there are even women who've had a natural birth who may not have had their newborn self attach, so I say spread the word! :)
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Permalink Reply by Cherylyn on -
I LOVE this! I don't see any reason why this should be considered controversial. What is natural, best and right shouldn't be hidden for fear of hurting anyone's feelings.
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Permalink Reply by Tracy Donegan on
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Marci I dearly wish that Irish midwives would encourage this but sadly it's not a very common sight in Ireland either. I agree - we should spread that word that this can happen when Moms and babies are given the time and space to do what they innately know what to do. RMK I think you clarified what I was feeling - it's not the fear of making a Mom feel guilty but the sadness that she may feel for not having this wonderful opportunity but you're right about when we know better we do better.
Most Moms have never even considered that their baby can in fact crawl to the breast themselves and self attach without any help.... it opens up a whole other discussion about the awareness of the baby - how we see the baby and how we see ourselves as parents.
Tracy
http://www.GentleBirthUSA.com
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Permalink Reply by EmilyK on
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Why is this controversial? I think it's fairly amazing and beautiful. I had two unmedicated births and I never did this but I don't feel bad about it. If anything it helps me know I can relax a little bit with the whole bf thing in general. My kids weren't five minutes old and I was trying to stuff a nipple in their mouths! Plus the video isn't saying that babies born during medicated labors couldn't or didn't breastfeed, they just said that the initial feeding with the breast crawl was more difficult for them.
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