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22nd out of 26 books
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15 voters
The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence
The Official Lamaze Guide helps expectant parents experience childbirth with confidence. In clear, easy-to-understand terms, this book dispels the myths that pregnancy and birth are fraught with risk. Lothian and DeVries offer solidly researched evidence to document that common medical interventions (such as pitocin, epidural block, c-sections, IV fluids, and electronic fe...more
Paperback, 300 pages
Published
October 4th 2005
by Meadowbrook
(first published 2005)
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Once you get past all the not-so-subtle hospital and OB-bashing, the premise behind this book is a good one: as women, we were designed and built to grow and deliver babies. While I still plan to deliver my second baby in a hospital under the care of an OB, I have also gained some valuable lessons from reading this book:
1. Hire a doula to help with physical, emotional and psychological comfort before, during, and after labor.
2. Refuse all interventions for as long as possible unless medically ne...more
1. Hire a doula to help with physical, emotional and psychological comfort before, during, and after labor.
2. Refuse all interventions for as long as possible unless medically ne...more
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Above all, this book provides a philosophy of childbirth - basically, the idea that women are biologically fit for childbirth and are able to handle it. It helps remove the common views of childbirth that many people never question. It isn't a specific guide to what to do during the birth, but it provides a strong foundation for making your own decisions about what is right for you and your child. I found it pretty empowering and informative - for example, the book explains why labor is painful...more
Oct 11, 2008
Little
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Pregnant women
Shelves:
pregnancy-birth-children
If you only read one book about childbirth, this is an excellent choice. Lamaze has changed: it's not just about breathing patterns to distract you, and they no longer claim that the pain is all in your head. The Official Lamaze Guide walks you through best practices in L&D and why they are best as well as common practices you might want to question and how they may or may not benefit you. There are suggestions for a wide range of pain management strategies, many references to good research...more
Reading some books, preparing for my second child. Didn't care for this one. Instead of taking a rational and reasoned approach, all hospitals and doctors are labeled as Evil.
I don't know if there are different versions of this book; the book I read was published in 2005, and it was seriously outdated for me. Either much has changed since then, or I live in a very progressive area. My first child was born in 2010, and the hospital followed ALL the 'advice' offered in this book. I had complete c...more
I don't know if there are different versions of this book; the book I read was published in 2005, and it was seriously outdated for me. Either much has changed since then, or I live in a very progressive area. My first child was born in 2010, and the hospital followed ALL the 'advice' offered in this book. I had complete c...more
Frightening, combative, and often factually inaccurate, this is less a helpful manual and more a piece of propaganda. Even approaching this book as someone who already agrees with its basic premise - that many US births are terribly impersonal and over-medicalized and that women need more options - I found the authors' tone and attitude extremely off-putting. "Natural childbirth" is used interchangeably with the phrase "normal childbirth," despite the obvious fact that, statistically, it is not....more
I was not able to take a prenatal class due to time and financial constraints, so I've been borrowing books from the library to give me some idea of what labor and delivery will be like and how I should prepare. This book gave me a lot to think about, and now I have lots of questions to ask my OB. The authors definitely promote a drug-free, intervention-free, birth center/home birth, and if you know that's not for you, then this book won't help you much. I would like to take a natural approach t...more
This book contains a lot of very good information for mothers looking to trust themselves and their bodies through the birthing process. The first few chapters are quite dry, and are definitely selling an agenda. If you are having a hospital birth with a doctor you might believe after the first few chapters that a) you have made a terrible mistake or b) this book holds nothing for you. Neither is the case.
This book has a lot of great comfort techniques and exercises which are applicable to any w...more
This book has a lot of great comfort techniques and exercises which are applicable to any w...more
Basically underwhelming. There was nothing here I disagreed with (though the early emphasis on midwifery and the inappropriate application of obstetrics no low-risk pregnancies was a bit off-putting, even if they are points I ultimately agree with), but I would compare this book to a freshman college textbook. It's a good overview of many of the important points in childbirth, but there isn't a lot of depth. The chapter on comfort measures is a measly 12 pages. Better books include Penny Simkin'...more
It was a good overview of pregnancy/labor/birth, similar to a lot of other books I've read. Honestly, I mostly skimmed it because I was just trying to familiarize myself with the Lamaze method, as a doula client of mine is a certified Lamaze instructor and I wanted to make sure I had a basic knowledge of Lamaze. I still think that, in terms of a comprehensive overview of pregnancy/birth that is empowering and mom-friendly, I like Pregnancy Childbirth and the Newborn 4th Edition by Penny Simkin t...more
This book has a lot going for it (especially chapters on "Keeping Birth Normal" and "Finding Comfort in Labor") but I think that its opening chapter, "What Is Normal Birth?" overstates its case and might put off mainstream readers. Lines like, "In spite of the evidence, U.S. maternity care continues to sabotage normal birth rather than support it" -- although true -- I think might make women feel defensive. Still, a good basic book that covers a lot of ground and deserves to have a higher profil...more
The author is a Lamaze-certified childbirth educator and doula, and this book is a Lamaze method childbirth guide. Caveat to the reader: the Lamaze method, this author, and this book all focus on natural childbirth free of the unnecessary medical interventions that have become routine in U.S. maternity care, so if you want to preschedule your induction and receive an epidural as soon as you're added to the hospital, this is not the book for you.
The Lamaze method is centered around six childbirth...more
The Lamaze method is centered around six childbirth...more
May 15, 2011
Lydia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who's pregnant or may be pregnant some day
Just finished the book and LOVED it! Some people have complained that the book portrays the healthcare system unfairly or is overly biased. I merely found it to be incredibly informative and supportive of all women giving birth, no matter where or how they choose to do so. Although the authors are of course openly in favor of natural birth, I think their main objective is to make sure that women are correctly educated so that they can make choices for themselves and their babies according to the...more
I liked the opinions of the writers of this book about natural childbirth. But, the first few chapters are nothing but opinions with little advice on labor itself. Since I live abroad I had very few of the natural childbirth options described available to me (it was a tremendous battle which I ultimately lost, just to avoid a fetal monitor and an epidural.) I would have liked the book better if it had gone more in-depth on breathing techniques, pain management and dealing with hospital personnel...more
Good overview of Birth I guess. I don't think this is the same Lamaze that my mom was teaching in the 70s. The new Lamaze seems to be focused on helping women know what their options are with a couple of tips to get through it. I thought Lamaze would have a much greater emphasis on natural, medication free birth.
This book has a lot of good information but I strongly disagree with some of the information provided. I think the statistics about the comparative safety of giving birth outside of a hospital setting have more to do with the type of person who chooses a birthing center/home birth than it does the safety of the hospital. I've seen several situations where a midwife's advise to avoid intervention had caused problems. (such as shoulder distoci resulting in a broken clavical and a ruptured uterus.)...more
I found this book to be mostly informative and well-written. It tends towards believing itself to be right at the expense of other birth plans, but less so than other birthing books I have read. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone considering natural childbirth.
This is a really good overview of all the variuos birthing options. It is fact based with all the studies quoted and many even included in the back. If you are considering a natural birth or if you are considering druge, it's worth the read.
(Non-Fiction Childbirth, Lamaze) It's not that this book was bad, it just didn't offer any new information for me (probably because I have read way too many books on giving birth). I have also found that I prefer the Bradley Method over Lamaze.
I'm really getting a lot out of this so far. It is more informative than the other natural childbirth books I have been reading - the others seem to talk more about the history and medicalization of childbirth and fail to discuss actual techniques (like breathing, positions, etc) and labor signs. This one is more how-to/manual like without being preachy or boring.
very helpful, not preachy.
very helpful, not preachy.
So I'm planning an epidural-free delivery this time around and I wanted to see what I could research in the way of "natural" childbirth. My neighbor lent me this book and swears by it. However, the entire time reading it, I felt like a horrible person for wanting to give birth in a hospital with an obstetrician. I'm not in support of the whole, "babies should be born in the beds they're conceived in," like this author is. So while the chapters on what is physically happening to you during labor...more
Overall good book.
I had a hard time with the negativity towards hospitals and medical staff. This book is also outdated on some of its facts such as mommy baby separation after birth in hospitals,...
I had a hard time with the negativity towards hospitals and medical staff. This book is also outdated on some of its facts such as mommy baby separation after birth in hospitals,...
I felt like this would gave more tips, advice, etc for natural childbirth. A little disappointed but still very informative.
This made birth seem less scary, but I can't speak with authority until I've actually given birth. So I'll touch back later.
Must read for expectant parents to round out your perspective on labor with natural birth approaches.
still a little biased, but a good read. One of the many birthing books on my shelf this summer.
There is nothing in this book about the actual Lamaze technique. So I basically wasted several hours reading everything I have already read in other birth books. I gave it two stars since the birth information is very clear, but the title is misleading.
I really liked this book. It was so positive and made me feel less weird about the whole thing!
Great book with a lot of information and support for natural birth. Includes tips for birth and staying informed on medical interventions.
Oct 01, 2011
Principle Based Learning
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
get-ready-for-baby-naturally
Takes up where Bradley is weak: movement during labor.
-Elizabeth Trotter
-Elizabeth Trotter
Feb 25, 2010
Madeline
added it
Beautiful! Just what I needed.
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“You are not an accident.
Even at the moment of your conception,
out of many possibilities,
only certain cells combined,
survived, grew to be you.
You are unique, created for a purpose.
Go confidently into the days ahead.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
Even at the moment of your conception,
out of many possibilities,
only certain cells combined,
survived, grew to be you.
You are unique, created for a purpose.
Go confidently into the days ahead.”
