David Chamberlaain is one of the world's leading experts on perinatal psychology. From: http://birthpsychology.com/healing/historical.html David Chamberlain ("Babies Remember Birth") writes: "In the Age of Science, babies have not necessarily fared better. It may shock you to consider how many ways they have fared worse. In the last hundred years, scientific authorities robbed babies of their cries by calling them "echoes" or "random sound;" robbed them of their smiles by calling them "gas;" robbed them of their memories by calling them "fantasies;" and robbed them of their pain by calling it a "reflex. Before this century, newborns found themselves in the hands of women: mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and midwives, but in the 20th century, infants collided head-on with physicians, typically male physicians. In the collision, infant senses, emotions, and cognitions were usually ignored. Doctors eventually gave serious attention to the pain of mothers but not to the pain of infants. Pediatricians and obstetricians created painful routines which continue today." and http://birthpsychology.com/violence/index.html "Ironically, in modern hospital birth, violence and pain have become routine for babies. For most of the 20th century, neither obstetricians nor psychologists have regarded pain as a reality for newborns. Therefore, doctors have not hesitated to expose the baby to a harsh environment at birth, or to introduce painful routines, or painful instruments. Nor have they hesitated to use powerful chemicals in the form of drugs and anesthetics. All these departures from what normally happened at a home birth have profoundly altered the experience of birth for the baby. Babies protest being jabbed with needles for blood samples and vitamin K shots, don't like to be turned upside down, rushed through space, and handled by different people. Their skin is extremely sensitive and they complain when rubbed and cleaned. We have been making them angry, afraid, defensive, sad, and confused--for the greater part of the century." "Research has followed these dramatic innovations at a great distance, warning of danger long after the damage was done. The results of this new way of birth may finally be calculated in the angry behavior of generations of men and women born in violence. We have been impregnated with drugs from the first moment of life. Are we so fascinated with drugs and the altered states they evoke because we were introduced to them at birth? Research findings point to these connections." The information is all out there. All we have to do is be willing to know. Jennifer Tow, iBCLC, CT, USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html