Birth Without Violence

A single 30 year-old male, I saw a small notice that Dr. LeBoyer was to give a talk about "birthing" to our comunity. Not at all interested in the subject,(geez I didn't even have a girlfriend!) I only went to see this guy because he had presided over 10,000 births! If he had done that many anythings(like knitted sweaters) I would probably also would have gone! When he entered the room, I was surprised how short he was, and how handsome. I was moved by what he had to say. A year later I read the book and tears were streaming down my cheeks. Such was its profound truth and beauty. Never before or since has reading had this effect on me. 1979 I was the mid-wife for my daughter's birth, and followed the book's advice exactly. At thirty minutes old she was immersed in the water, her clenched fingers relaxed, the vernix disappeared,the wrinkled skin filled out, her whole body relaxed, she looked straight into my eyes and smiled! Now this same daughter is pregnant with her first child and I am buying a copy of Leboyer's book for her. I recommend this book to everyone, everywhere.

This book is so full of common sense, compassion and beauty while still being founded upon simple yet so often unpracticed scientific priciples that is almost annoying to read. "How is it possible that we haven't been doing this for ten thousand years? How is it possible that we don't do this today as a matter of course?"; these will be just some of the first questions that will pop up in your mind. It is so clearly written and so important, that the attributes of this not just life-altering but culture-altering book about the first moments of life for a newborn child cannot be understated. It reads, and to a large degree is constructed, like great poetry--in much the same way the work of Galileo and Darwin and Alice Miller and Stephen Hawking read like epic poetic novels as they sing with human, universal truths.One of the most beautiful things about this book is LeBoyer's confident, unashamed way of admitting that he merely observed a small, hidden community in India and their childbirthing practices. He discovered that their lives in this aspect, and those of their children, were a reflection of, according to Western medical principles, a scientific impossibility. With that discovery he saw the differences between the simplicity of nature, the imposed myopia of culture and the limitlessness of human potential--in an area of human life where he once unconsciously (like most of us) thought the three were essentially one and the same. He then allowed that to forever change his life. Consequently, given what he learned, he wrote this masterpiece (given its easy to digest structure, poetic/psychological tone and its overwhelming lack of antecedents), and changed ours. The cultural/philosophical and spiritual bridge from the West to the East he created by this approach to childbirthing is momumental in its implications, in a way most of the New Age literature of the past thirty plus years, including that of American writers who willingly reveal their Eastern philosophical inspiration, really just isn't. This is a beautiful book. I have one wonderful son. If and when I have other children, this book charts how they will essentially come into the world and spend their first moments in it. I'll see to it.

Even though I went through a "normal" delivery, my husband and I utilized several of the principles that Dr. LeBoyer recommends in this book. The quietness and the bath automatically soothed our baby boy. The nurses were amazed at the calmness that enveloped our son as soon as he was placed into the bath. Please read this book and adapt its principles to your delivery.

The author shows what the birth of a child would look like if it were done from the point of view of the baby. He does this with a gentle narative and the most amazing photographs of a new born in the act of coming into this world. He also gives birth to something else: to the idea that the baby is fully alive and alert at birth and aware of his/hers surroundings. Be prepared to be horrified at the realization of how babies are "normally" treated, how YOU were probably treated, and what scars that has left. Don't be surprised if you feel a sense of mission of put this book in the hands of every doctor who ever did or ever will receive a license to practice medicine. A good campanion for this book would be anything on the topic Fetal Stimulation, that is: communicating with babies still in the womb eg. the Make Way for Baby video put out by AMPHION Communications or the Brave New Babies program that appeared on The Learning Channel late one night in 1997.

WOW! This is one of the most touching, honest books I have ever read. Birth is a natural event that should take place in a natural setting. This book brings to light the forgotten beauty and simplicity of birth. It will open your eyes to the horrors of birth (yes babies can feel, see, sense, smell and hear when you yell, poke, prod, spank, shine bright lights and drop burning liquid into their eyes), and turn you on to the beauty of this wonderful experience. This book actually changed my life and led me onto the path of midwifery. Recommended to all humankind!