Customer Reviews

Childbirth Wisdom: From the World's Oldest Societies

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I have now read a plethora of books related to natural childbirth & conscious parenting. This book beautifully weaves together cultural research gathered from hundreds of indigenous women with narrative anecdotes that show birthing traditions from all over the planet. The fact that diverse indigenous people SHARE the same knowledge & practice while WESTERN "modern" societies have invented completely divergent practices, tells us something is wrong with our birthing industry. This is a BEAUTIFUL & EMPOWERING read... it will stand out in my labor-library as one of the best books I've read on the past & future of birthing.

This book asks universal questions about reproductive matters, and explores answers as presented by a wide comparison of tribal customs.

This book ought to be newly released, so that a new generation of mothers can discover it.

Hilary Jacobson, author of Mother Food: A Breastfeeding Diet Guide with Lactogenic Foods and Herbs - Build Milk Supply, Boost Immunity, Lift Depression, Detox, Lose Weight, Optimize a Baby's IQ, and Reduce Colic and Allergies

Of the dozen books I have read, this, by far, possesses some of the most empowering and helpful information about birth as a natural process--right up there with Emergency Childbirth by Dr. Gregory White and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. Of course, these tribal cultures were not perfect, either, and not all of their practices should be adopted.

For example, most all of the cultures examined in this book believed that colostrum, or pre-milk, was not good or even harmful for babies; a woman would not nurse until her milk came in. It is well-known in Western societies that colostrum possesses very high levels of antibodies and transfers immunities from mother to child, earning itself the nickname "liquid gold".

But what Western societies have forgotten that was well-known by all tribal societies is that any woman can breastfeed, whether or not she has ever been pregnant. In fact, in many of these tribes the grandmothers would nurse the children while the mothers were out working. People in Western societies have outrageous beliefs about breastfeeding, such as: many women cannot breastfeed, some babies are allergic to breastmilk, or that it is possible to "run out" of milk. All of these beliefs are 100% false.

The above is just one example of the invaluable knowledge possessed in this book. It is a horrible shame that this book has gone out of print.