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

~ Sarah Buckley (Author), Ina May Gaskin (Foreword)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices + Ina May's Guide to Childbirth + Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation
Price For All Three: $37.34

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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.

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)

More About the Author

Sarah J. Buckley
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Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices
75% buy the item featured on this page:
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$11.53
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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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."
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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
/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.
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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!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Easy enough to sum up
Don't have an ultrasound, don't have an epidural, don't have a C-section, do give birth at home, don't cut the cord, do breastfeed, and do sleep with your baby. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Alice Fielding

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative, truthful, compassionate

I love Sarah Buckley's book! It accomplishes a rare feat: combining a compassionate voice with the weighty authority that a practising doctor and meticulous researcher can... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robin Grille, psychologist, author

2.0 out of 5 stars Truely gentle? Choose Ina Mae.
I approached this book with an open mind, knowing that I was going to give birth in a hospital but wanting to do it drug-free... Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Klose

5.0 out of 5 stars heart and head
REVIEW FOR

GENTLE BIRTH, GENTLE MOTHERING

I need to declare a bias in reviewing this book. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Unmani

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best pregnancy/childbirth books
I have loaned this book to many people with different backgrounds and beliefs - doctors, account executives, homesteaders, home birthers, hospital birthers - and all have... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Brenda Stone

5.0 out of 5 stars So much wisdom in this book...
Dr. Sarah Buckley combines accent wisdom along with her practical medical side. This book is long overdue in a country who is longing for answers to unanswered questions lost from... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Lindsey Meehleis

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites!
This is one of my favorite books. There is a lovely mix of science and personal experience in this book that makes it an easy read and very informative too. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Erika L. Urban

5.0 out of 5 stars THANKS SARAH!
True to her call - Sarah has once again eloquently brought to light some very important truths of birth so often overlooked in modern-day obstetrics. Read more
Published 10 months ago by C. Gautschi

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