Who Influences Birth?
Who influences birth…is it science or the attitude of the society…??
Today I am fired up…fired up because I can envision a better birthing world and see that the path we are walking down is at times quite ludicrous!
We are at a place where we need science to affirm the naturalness of the body – the wisdom of the body. Where evidence based is more revered than inherent based.
Why?
Fear mongering has severed modern day women from this inherent knowing. Mothers carry the blue print of birth and mothers know birth with their babies. We need to find ways to bring them back home.
Millions of $$ are poured into finding solutions to health problems we are seeing in babies and children once women have already gone through their pregnancy and birth journey. If we could understand that the focus needs to change so babies are brought into the world with mothers who are treated with love and kindness in environments that support the birthing blue print as the first step of acknowledgement.
Imagine if we gave the millions to creating peaceful, loving birth environments as well as unconditional support for mother’s birthing choices without vilification and fear tactics. Support that truly enriched the lives of birthing women, partners and their babies – where babies were born into warm, secure, gentle and caring environments that understood the role of the microbiome and secure attachment.
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Vaginal birth where possible, held skin to skin, lotus birth, mothers supported in breastfeeding over long term, visits to the home to check on her and her baby over the course of a year and a world built around caring for families that’s not just lip service but one that honors and respects the future of our children’s well being which in turn affects family well being.
One area that I can speak for besides in the actual birth arena is my experience as a global breastfeeding advocate. When I campaigned for breastfeeding rights for women in the worldwide media from 2012 to 2016, including public and natural term breastfeeding, it became very very clear to me that one of the reasons I was shamed and attacked by many online commentators, was purely for the fact that if I breastfed my daughter nobody could directly make money out of our relationship or my body.
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Multiply this a million times and you can imagine the loss in the corporate coffers. The only way they could make money was to create a sensational story with ridiculous headlines that did not reflect the truth of our relationship but one that demonized us as being weird, strange and out of touch.
Imagine if society at large including these media influencers who are all tied in with the system could actually use their leverage to create positive and uplifting movements of love and support to inspire mothers and families. To switch focus and spending, by for example, putting money, time and energy into a more localized community advocacy and branching out from this centre to the wider world. An advocacy that supports mothers, if they choose to breastfeed or through truthful birth dialogue which means that in the long term children, families and society benefits.
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I am passionate about mothers and babies retaining their right to their own choices and access to their body wisdom. As well as informed choices with all the information we know to be beneficial both from science and heart. It’s time to wake up and realize that the consequences of how we “do” pregnancy, birth and beyond has lifelong impact on all of Humanity. We have the key to health and wellness; mental, emotional and physical and it is a real shame if we do not take heed of what we know to be the truth.
