
Do We Need Midwives?
What is the future of the human capacity to give birth? What is the future of underused physiological functions? Should we expect an evolution of Homo sapiens in relation to the way babies are born? Can fast-developing scientific disciplines induce a new awareness?
In this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the future of birth, renowned obstetrician Michel Odent takes the question ‘Do we need midwives?’ as a starting point. If a paradigm shift occurs, what kind of midwives shall we need? For how long can we go on neutralizing the laws of natural selection? Are human beings able to raise vital questions before it is too late? Unprecedented situations should first and foremost inspire appropriate questions.
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A mind-expanding read
There are so many things in this book that it had never occurred to me to wonder about. How far has our birthing practice evolved from undeveloped society, and what impact has this had on our species? How will it continue to develop, and what impact will this have? How and should we guide the development of our birthing practices with a view to affecting our own evolution? The questions and hypotheses in this book have major implications for our understanding of our own biology and the creation of norms in obstetric and midwifery practice.
A book that can change the future of childbirth and "re-sustainablize" the evolution of our species!
I think this book is CRUCIAL!!! The updated scientific evidences and experiences, visions and longtermthinking hypotheses that Michel Odent offers in this book consistently deepened my awarenesses and commitments towards the topic of childbirth, towards the motherbabycontinuum, towards the fate of mankind and its evolution... Throughout the reading of the book I started to understand which urgent questions Odent tries to inspire with the title "Do we need midwives". And with the important addendum entitled'Can humanity survive medicine'... I think that this book is a strong call for the discovery and realization of authentic midwifery... An invitation to mankind to get rid of its deeprooted cultural conditionings and to understand what the basic needs of the motherbabycontinuum are during pregnancy-birth-breastfeeding and how these basic needs can be PROTECTED, offering the best possible healthoutcomes for motherbaby and for the whole community on the short and evolutionary term. I think that the scientific evidences, visions, experiences, hypotheses gathered in this book are crucial not only for midwives, but also for breastfeedingpeercounselors and breastfeedingprofessionals, for gynaecologues, neonatologues, paediatricians,nurses, doulas, kangaroulas, familydoctors and all healthprofessionals and health researchers. And this book is to my opinion crucial also for activists in the field of human rights, environment protection, sustainable development, and of course for politicians and nationleaders, in short for all the men and women of the world... Yes, I intensely hope that this book will reach the goal to be a startingpoint... a precious guide and tool to 'inspire the appropriate questions' that can help humanity change its' deep rooted cultural birthparadigms and align them with our physiological, our mammalian paradigms, especially during the crucial primal health period!!...