Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices (Paperback)

~ Sarah Buckley (Author), Ina May Gaskin (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An authoritative guide to natural childbirth and postpartum parenting options from an MD who home-birthed her own four children.

Sarah Buckley might be called a third-wave natural birth advocate. A doctor and a mother, she approaches the question of how a woman and baby might have the most fulfilling birth experience with respect for the wisdom of both medical science and the human body. Using current medical and epidemiological research plus women's experiences (including her own), she demonstrates that what she calls "undisturbed birth" is almost always healthier and safer than high-technology approaches to birth. Her wise counsel on issues like breastfeeding and sleeping during postpartum helps extend the gentle birth experience into a gentle parenting relationship.

From the Publisher

An authoritative guide to natural childbirth and postpartum parenting options from an MD who home-birthed her own four children. * Speaks to a new generation of parents who are concerned about the medicalization of childbirth and want current and science-based info about alternatives.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Celestial Arts; 1 edition (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587613220
• ISBN-13: 978-1587613227
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just a Little Too "Out There" for Most Readers, January 7, 2009

By	Mama Bee (St Paul, MN) - See all my reviews

Let me start out by saying that I really appreciate Sarah Buckley and the work she's done. I have read some of her articles in various places and was SUPER excited to get this book.

Also, I am a proponent of natural birth and mothering. I have given birth at home (on purpose!), am tandem nursing my infant and toddler, practice sleep sharing via Family Bed, etc., so I was definitely coming to this book with an open, even eager, mind.

That being said, by the time I had read through the author's 4 birth stories, the story of her son's placenta and the narrative of her breastfeeding experiences (all of which are included scattered throughout the book, highlighted in gray), I knew this wasn't the book I was hoping for.

While much of the information Sarah shares in this book is well-researched, informative, and enlightening, there is too much sort of mystical, magical, spiritualism present, as well as an advocacy of practices that are so unconventional as to be considered "fringe", for it to be an all-purpose guide to natural birth and mothering.

I think most readers looking for a basic guide to natural childbirth will be turned off by some a the more bizarre, New-Agey stuff in this book, and might therefor conclude that something like natural birth or homebirth is only for a "certain type" of person, one who draws large pastel mandalas in preparation for birth and during pregnancy uses "Brazilian rhythms and hip swirls to spiral [an] ambivalent baby deeper into [one's] pelvis."

While I respect Ms. Buckley's decisions regarding her own births, I can't help but feel that someone reading about her decision to give birth without outside assistance and to forgo any prenatal medical care, including blood pressure tests, might not feel too confident about the advice given in this book. Maybe I'm just not "there" yet, but I can't quite head into pregnancy and birth "[trusting] my body and my baby to tell me, through feelings, dreams, and impulses, what was needed." (Of course, it helps that both the author and her husband are M.D.'s, which made the footling breech birth of their baby with a non-pulsating cord somewhat less dangerous.)

I appreciated Sarah's description of all the wonderful things her son's placenta did for him while he was in utero. However, keeping the placenta attached to the baby after birth (tucked into a velvet bag and taken out regularly to be dried and salted) until it fell off naturally (so-called "lotus birth") is, well... gross.

All in all, there are some great parts to this book - I especially love the chapter on "Love, Attachment and Your Baby's Brain" and on safe sleep-sharing. And while a certain select population of pregnant women and mothers will find everything in this book to be up their alley, I can't help but think that most will find it too "out there" to be helpful. I certainly can't see myself loaning it out to pregnant friends the way I have with Henci Goer's "The Thinking Woman's Guide to Better Birth." I would say try that one instead, or even the Sear's "Birth Book."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Natural Approach To Child Birth and Parenting, February 16, 2009

By	Sacramento Book Review "SacramentoBookReview.com" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

/Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering/ was inspired by Dr. Sarah Buckley's home birth of her third child. In an era where pregnancy and birth are considered to be a medical condition, rather than a natural process that women's bodies were designed for, this book challenges such topics as testing for gestational diabetes, antibiotics for group B strep, and induction for being "overdue." Buckley discusses the cycle of intervention during labor--induction, epidurals, and hurrying along the third stage of birth. The book continues with topics on long-term breast-feeding, bed-sharing, and discusses cultural disapproval. /Gentle Birth/ includes the stories of Buckley's four births at home.

Being a proponent of natural childbirth and allowing one's body to labor sans intervention, I was excited to find this wonderfully written book on all the topics I've come to believe in and embrace. While this book won't send someone who looks at birth as "something is about to go wrong," running to set up the kiddie pool for a home birth, for those who already lean towards the natural side of birth, it'll be a wonderful addition to your pregnancy, birth, and baby-rearing collection.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Childbirth Book, January 24, 2009

By	BNA (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

I love this book. It is my favorite childbirth book for many reasons. I love the fact that it is a collection of articles which makes it super easy to read. Dr. Buckley's wisdom is priceless. I am a childbirth educator and doula and I recommend this book to all of my students and clients. In my opinion there is no better childbirth book! She opens you to a new way of thinking. I know I began to question things that are considered standard in maternity care and made different choices than I would have without the knowledge gained through her book. Her insight into the hormones in labor and breastfeeding is profound! I use her book when I teach my classes and draw on it for doula clients as well as my own pregnancies. It goes beyond childbirth into breastfeeding and parenting as well. You learn on many different levels. Thank you Dr. Buckley a hundred times over for finally getting this amazing book published in the USA so more women can benefit from the wisdom it contains!