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“God warns us not to love any earthly thing above Himself, and yet He sets in a mother’s heart such a fierce passion for her babes that I do not comprehend how He can test us so.”

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

Facts of American Birth

1. Today the US leads the “modern” world with 1 out of 8 of our babies born prematurely or low-birth-weight.  These two problems are the primary cause of infant death and later disabilities and health problems.  (source: CDC, 2005 statistics)

2. The US spends more money per baby on medical prenatal care and high-tech birth than any country in the world.  Birth in the US is a $150 billion profit-driven industry.  This care is costly yet ineffective. (source: Thomas H. Strong Jr., MD, Expecting Trouble: The Myth of Prenatal Care in America, 2000)

3. Did you know that US infant mortality ranks higher than 28 other countries that spend less on birth than we do, including Cuba.  Our maternal mortality is rising as well, and is underreported.  Thirty percent of women have cesarean surgery for birth and many others have dangerous drugs to induce and augment labor.  (source: WHO and the CDC.  According to a Vol 95 2005 article of the American Journal of Health, 38-50% of US maternal deaths are not listed as maternal deaths.)
Jenn Purdy, CLD

Breast Feeding Makes Babies Smarter

 This from The Week, November 23, 2007. Researchers in England and New Zealand tested the effects of formula vs. breast milk on more than 3,000 children. It was found that 90% of babies carry the gene to digest the important brain-developing fats found only in breastmilk. Breast-fed children with the gene were found to have IQs seven points higher than those without the gene. The study proves that higher IQs in breastfed children that have been previously found are not only due to the tendency for breastfeeding mothers to be from educated, middle-class families. It clearly shows that genetics and breastfeeding work together to improve a baby’s smarts. Professor Terrie Moffitt said, “we have shown that in fact nature works via nurture to create better health outcomes.”

Jenn Purdy, CLD

Three Minute Baby Theif

Every mom I work with expresses the desire to hold her baby on her chest immediately after birth. Doctors and midwives are happy to do this under healthy circumstances. What mothers are not prepared for is the infant care nurse who has come into the room while mom was giving birth and is standing by to perform her “procedures” on the baby. The nurse of course, wants to do this as soon as possible so she’s not standing around and can get on to the next room.

I watch the clock. The birth is at 2:10 pm. The theif comes and steals the newborn baby from it’s mother at 2:13 pm.

The baby that is feeling, smelling, seeing, sensing, bonding, breathing, warming, hearing its mother for the first time outside of her in a unique and critical moment in their relationship. The mother’s body is reeling with “love” hormones that are specially released through her body when the baby is born. And then the baby is gone. It’s on a warming table, “because babies are born wet and they can’t regulate their temperature well so they need to be kept warm.” As if mom’s warm, comfortable snuggle and a couple of blankets and towels are insufficient to keep the baby warm and dry.

What in the world did we do before warming lights? How did babies survive before they were being separated from their mothers just minutes after birth?

Mothers should not have to ask for the right to hold and warm their newborns for 30 mintues, an hour… before the infant who has just experienced the most traumatic event in it’s life (even in a gentle birth) is whisked away for rubbing, suction, needle stabs, thermometers, washing, eye ointment, foreign voices, tugging on arms and legs, tubes, open space (vs. just being snug inside mom), bright light, blankets. Moms, this work can be done on your chest if it must be done right away or that baby nurse can come back later. Don’t ask, don’t apologize…insist that your baby stays right on you where it belongs for as long as you want.

Jenn Purdy, CLD