Our vision is “a world of confident women choosing normal birth.” But what is “normal birth”? Lamaze International believes it is nature's simple plan for birth.

Nature's Plan for Birth

A woman's body is beautifully designed to grow a baby during pregnancy, to birth her baby, and then to nurture her baby at the breast. The changes that take place in a woman's body during pregnancy seem miraculous. Some of these changes prepare a woman's body for the challenges ahead. Hormones sustain her pregnancy, orchestrate the events of labor and birth, and enable her body to open and birth.

Any intervention in birth, no matter how harmless it may seem, may disrupt these precise hormonal shifts and create problems that must be “managed” with medical expertise and equipment. In light of this, the World Health Organization asserts that, “the aim of care is to achieve a healthy mother and child with the least possible level of intervention that is compatible with safety. This approach implies that in normal birth there should be a valid reason to interfere with the natural process.”

Care Practices That Promote Normal Birth

The following care practices, adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO), promote, support, and protect nature's plan for birth:

• Labor begins on its own.
• Freedom of movement throughout labor.
• Continuous labor support.
• No routine interventions.
• Non-supine (e.g., upright or side-lying) positions for birth.
• No separation of mother and baby after birth with unlimited opportunity for breastfeeding.

Use our series of tip sheets to make decisions about your care and improve your chances of having a normal birth.

· Ten Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy

· Ten Tips for a Normal Birth

Copyright 2004, Lamaze International, Inc. All rights reserved.
For more information or to join Lamaze International, please visit their web site at www.lamaze.org

Copyright © 2005-2007 PeninsulaBirthNetwork.com, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.