What book needs to be written about Pregnancy and Birth. What is missing from the bookshops? What subjects are not covered enough?
This competition is for the 2nd copy of Ina May Gaskins new book – Birth Matters given to Lactivist by Pinter and Martin.
Pinter and Martin are a small publishing house that specialise in pregnancy and birth and publish around 12 new books a year. They are sponsors and great supporters of Lactivist and without sponsors this site could not continue. They are lovely to deal with and I want to make it worth their while supporting Lactivist so please look at their website – www.pinterandmartin.com
To enter the second competition to win Birth Matters please comment below and tell us:
What book needs to be written about Pregnancy and Birth. What is missing from the bookshops? What subjects are not covered enough?
Competition ends 30th April 2011 at midnight and the winner will be the one with the best answer according to me and my quality control dept (my 7 year old son).
Competition is only for people in the UK and Europe – sorry!
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A woman who gives birth in the US today is more likely to die in childbirth than her mother was. With one in three babies born via cesarean, the US ranks behind thirty other nations in neonatal mortality rates, and forty other nations in maternal mortality rates. Confidence in women’s bodies and women’s choices has been lost. In Birth Matters, Ina May Gaskin, author of Spiritual Midwifery and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, reminds us that the ways in which women experience birth have implications for us all. Renewing confidence in a woman’s natural ability to birth provides transformative possibilities for individual families, and for society at large. Known around the world for her birthing practice’s exemplary low rates of intervention, morbidity and mortality, Ina May Gaskin has gained an international reputation in obstetrics for demonstrating the magic key to safe birth: respect for the natural process. Birth Matters is a spirited manifesta showing us how to trust women, value birth, nurture families, and reconcile modern life with a process as old as our species. “Ms. Gaskin is a bright light shining into a dark chasm of forgetting… I believe we should do well to hold Gaskin’s writings up among the great philosophical contributions to our time.” Ani DiFranco, from the foreword “A wonderful book expressing Ina May’s energy and vision.” Sheila Kitzinger, author of Rediscovering Birth” Thank you so much to everyone that entered – the winner was Sara Simon |
I would like to see more books detailing the various ways a normal labour and birth can look, instead of trying to put women in a box. I know some touch on this already, but surely it can’t hurt to have more. In addition to that, I’d like to see a book that talks about how a woman can truly talk to her midwife or doctor about all the options, both to ensure she is truly giving informed consent, and to keep her from being pressured into a decision she doesn’t want, and to help facilitate her wishes being followed. There are many books looking at the various options during pregnancy and labour, but sometimes I think this can serve to pit us against our health providers, instead of showing us how to work with them and still get what we want (ie: avoiding interventions we don’t want). Of course, ideally we wouldn’t have to fight to have what we want in that regard anyway, but sadly we’re not in an ideal world.
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I think there is a dire need for books about the attachment needs of babies and children, but written for the mainstream. Basically ‘The Science of Parenting’ but in simple terms and in a format that feels accessible to everyone – as easy to pick up as Gina Ford’s array of books promoting the opposite message seems to be. It would incorporate meeting those needs without self-sacrifice, and learning to accept (rather than fight) what parenthood naturally means, whilst living in today’s society. It IS possible, and I’d like to give this book to the many people who ask me how to do it.
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I know this might sound crazy, but I’d like to see a book for children and for teenagers, perhaps in two sections, or as a flip-book where it starts from either side if you flip it over. I’d like it to give age-appropriate information about pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. It should be positive about what is great about allowing our bodies to do what is natural, but be honest about the level of responsibility and a new baby’s needs. I know that when a baby is expected in an Australian aboriginal village, there are “classes” for the little girls. They are given clay breasts which hang by a cord behind their necks, and a mud baby, and they are taught to breastfeed. If you ask one of the women of the village how she learned to breastfeed, she’ll tell you, she never didn’t know how to breastfeed.
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I’d ilke to see a book on the risks of premature labour/births. Not terribley useful for the first pregnancy, but after the intial odds of 7.5% of the general population, if you do have a preemie, your odds then go up to 20% for a second pregnancy, and if that one is early, then up to 40% for the third. Going through a premature labour and delivery and all the guilt and trauma associated with it, it can be very scarey to even contemplate trying again. Midwives and Doctors don’t take this stuff seriously, and there are endless questions and feelings to work through, even if things turn out in the end. Breastfeeding a preemie though hospitalisation (via tube or cup feeds) and going home and what to expect from bf with a tiny one is also different from the general population, and even at La Leche League there isn’t a lot of information-it’s all geared towards the full-term baby (though I still love going to the meetings and find all info interesting).
Another useful book would be aimed towards health professionals giving them advise and information about how to support breastfeeding pre and post-delivery (I asked my midwife about info at an antenatal apt, and was asked ‘why would you want to do that?’!, and the health visitor tried to get me to put wee one on a bottle the 2nd day home, and didn’t stop pressuring me for 4-5 months, but I refused as it was the best thing for any baby, esp. my preemie. They just don’t want to know about it, and all the saved costs to the healthcare system later on if more people were informed and encouraged to bf. It’s very sad.
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I experienced severe pelvic girdle pain. I could not find any UK literature, which offered more than a cursory glance at this pregnancy ‘ailment’.
Most of my research was carried out trying to decipher online medical journals and with the help of talk forums where real women shared their experiences. The general consensus amongst the medical profession is that pelvic girdle pain is a pregnancy niggle that goes away following childbirth. Sadly this is not always the case. I became very disabled during pregnancy and 14 months later am still struggling with basic activities and experience permanent pain.
Women need to feel that this condition is acknowledged and their experiences need to be valued. This book would be fab if it were marketed to practitioners as well as Mothers and their loved ones.
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I’d like to see a book which explains to the mainstream reader more about Kangaroo Mother Care and Biological Nurturing priciples etc. A book which explains exactly how current medical practices are actually damaging babies and encourages parents to stand up and make their own, informed decisions and taking responsibility, rather than being sheeple who then sue when the medics get it wrong.
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i would like to see books about how naturally fed babies behave i.e. cluster feeding, growth spurts, night wakings (as a normal occurance) etc. i feel these things are not covered in a society that because of formula usage and advertising expects babies to sleep through the night by (at the latest) 6 mths and only need feeding every 4 hours.
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When I was pregnant my mum got everyone she knew to write down hints and tips and stories about pregnancy birth and having children and put it in a box and gave it to me on my stork party. It may sound silly but it really did help. Some of it was silly like tickling a babies feet make them stutter and things like that but some really helped me prepare and stick in my head today still. After that I wanted to compile loads of “postit note” tips from real woman experiencing everything pregnancy and children have to offer and giving tips on the things that really bug us mummies. Something positive and lighthearted and easy reading that we can all enjoy and make us feel like were part or “the mummy club”
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