The Lamaze method of natural childbirth gained popularity during the 1970s' "back to the land" movement when people decided to raise their own food and livestock on small farms and began to question the mainstream medical practices of childbirth in hospitals. Western medical intervention had reached a point where pregnant women were placed under general anesthesia and went through labor or were given a local anesthesia and other painkilling drugs to ease labor.
By contrast, Lamaze birthing coaches train expectant mothers and their birthing partners a specific way to breath to move through childbirth without medical intervention. This process is often modified for each mother as needed for her and her child's safety.
Lamaze breathing has become the hallmark of this birthing method.
History
The Lamaze breathing technique became popular in the U.S. after the publication of the book, "Thank You, Dr. Lamaze," written by Marjorie Karmel. Later, she and Elisabeth Bing, a childbirth educator, and Dr. Benjamin Segal, an obstetrician, established the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in New York City in 1960.
The Lamaze method was named after Dr. Fernand Lamaze, a French doctor, who learned the technique in 1951 while in the USSR. He learned from Soviets I.Z. Velvovskii and A.P. Nikolaev, of Leningrad, the method called psychoprophylaxis, which stressed relaxation as a "conditioned response" to contractions and the breathing to bring more oxygen to mother and child but also to derail the pain signals from the uterus to the brain during labor.
After the surge of using epidural painkillers during labor, a version of the Lamaze method has grown in popularity that emphasizes "breath awareness" over the original Lamaze breathing technique.
Significance
About a million women give birth using the Lamaze method, according to Lamaze International, the nonprofit organization that teaches people its Lamaze birthing philosophy.
After the rising popularity of the epidural in the 1980s and the commonplace theory that a hospital was the only safe place to give birth, the Lamaze method encouraged expectant mothers to use the breathing training to learn cope with the labor pains without drugs and to give birth at home or in birthing centers with a birthing partner and/or midwife.
This idea challenged the conventional wisdom of using any medical intervention necessary to deliver the baby so that the mother experienced as little physical pain as possible.
Function
Today, the Lamaze method is no longer identified with strictly Lamaze breathing. Instead, it is identified with the overriding philosophy that a healthy birth can take place at home and birthing centers as well as hospitals.
The Lamaze philosophy believes the mother can give birth without standard medical interventions such as epidurals or painkillers during labor.
Using "breath awareness" and coaching from her birthing partner, the use of ice and hot packs as well as birthing in an upright position are some features of the Lamaze philosophy today.
Considerations
Not every woman is able to give birth without medical intervention. There are many women who have died through the ages in natural childbirth.
Some women may have a narrow pelvis that makes it difficult to give birth without medical intervention. Doing so could also risk stress for the child and endanger the mother's health.
Some babies are in a breech position, where the feet are facing the cervix instead of the head, again making natural childbirth with no medical intervention difficult.
There are women who intend to have a natural childbirth but later during the delivery, decide to have an epidural or other medical assistance. Each mother has that choice, as it is her child and her well-being at stake.
Misconceptions
The overriding misconception is that women who choose to have medical intervention for their labor and delivery have not "tried hard enough" to deliver their child without medical assistance.
The Lamaze philosophy may be appropriate for many healthy women, but many women do not want to undergo extended labor pain and difficulty.
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