The President's Address
Early and Very Early Parenting: New Territories
by David B. Chamberlain, Ph.D.Abstract
For most of us in the Western world, the real beginnings of parenthood have been obscured by the pervasive materialism of medicine and psychology, by ignorance about life before birth, and by an urban life-style of pressure and pleasure that tends to dull inner consciousness. Often unintentional and discovered weeks after the fact, parenthood is pragmatic and starts whenever we want it to start. But is this the real beginning? Perhaps by definition parenting should begin when the baby begins, but when is this? Is it after birth, after conception, or sometime before?
In our culture, the conventional answer is after birth. This view is fostered by scientists who tend to define a baby as matter, especially brain matter, which is considered insufficient to support memory, learning, experience, trauma, emotion, or meaning until some time after birth. In this outworn stance, science has become dogma, and scientists believers. In this perspective, parenting is focused on the body (not the mind or soul) and is distinctly late, not early, as it is now fashionable to claim.
Parenting after conception is perceived by many in our society as radical and unnecessary, since there is, as yet, nothing (material) to parent. Howe ver, the evidence continues to mount that life before birth is a formative, dynamic matrix of interactions in which all parties are profoundly affected. The empirical evidence contradicts what we have thought about the nature of babies. Parents have discovered they can exchange signals, play games, and communicate in other ways their unborn babies. Piercing the cultural haze, these parents have developed a perspective that is holistic, including the body, emotions, and mind of the baby. You can accurately call this early parenting.
For a pioneering minority, parenting begins before conception, if for no other reason because they know that their health, habits, and environment can determine the quality of that conception. For them conception is conscious. not unconscious. This group is currently expanding to include more people who have been drawn into spiritual contact with babies in advance of conception. This perspective on parenthood is spiritual and their view of the baby transpersonal. New information on the nature of babies points to the true beginnings of parenthood. New adventures with babies will point to the true nature of parents.
The David B. Cheek Inaugural Lecture
Cheek Memorial Lecturer Marshall H. Klaus, M.D.This lecture was established to honor David B. Cheek, noted and much-loved obstetrician who spent 40 years teaching hypnosis to physicians, counselors, and psychologists and writing 50 papers and books--most of which emphasized the importance of psychology in all aspects of reproduction and childbirth. David was a devoted member of APPPAH, spoke at many of our conferences from the beginning in 1983, and served on our Board of Directors for five years, prior to his death in June 1996 at the age of 84.
We were honored to have as the first Cheek Memorial Lecturer, the pioneering physician, Marshall Klaus, who was a close friend and colleague of David Cheek.
Dr. Klaus has had exceptional influence as researcher, professor of pediatrics in American medical schools, visiting professor in Chile and Australia, recipient of many awards, and author of books translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Danish, Swedish, and Japanese. With his long-time colleague, pediatrician John Kennell, Marshall has made "bonding" a household word.
A pioneer in neonatology, Marshall did the original work in isolating and identifying the surfactant critical to early respiration, a breakthrough that led to life-saving clinical application in nurseries everywhere. He took the lead in opening the premature nursery to parents and has been a leader in the humane care of mothers and babies, including support for parents dealing with the death of a baby.
Dr. Klaus has held a succession of key academic and clinical positions including: Director of Intensive Care Nurseries and the Clinical Research Center for Preterm Infants at Stanford University in California; Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at Michigan State University; East Lansing, MI; and Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western University, and Director of Premature and Newborn Nurseries in Cleveland, Ohio. During his long career he trained over 35 Fellows in Neonatology, many of whom are now leaders in research and directors of newborn units world wide.
Marshall Klaus wrote the first text in Neonatology, now in its 5th edition, and for the past decade has been Editor of the Yearbook in Perinatal, Neonatal Medicine, a chronicle of leading research developments. His intense involvement with mothers and babies has flowered in an impressive series of research projects proving the importance--and urgency--of the early relationship of mothers with babies.
In both highly technical and popular books, Dr. Klaus has guided a generation of professionals and parents. His recent books have emphasized the profound advantages of continuous social (doula) support during labor and birth. In his last three books, he has had the collaboration of psychotherapist Phyllis Klaus, APPPAH Board member, and spouse. Perhaps their most popular book to date is The Amazing Newborn (1985) published by Addison-Wesley, available in seven languages.
Marshall is now affiliated with the Univ. of California, San Francisco, but don't look for him there. He is busy running up 65,000 air miles a Quarter in international travel lecturing, conducting research, and consulting with hospitals the world over.
Normal Perinatal Care for the 21st Century: Evidence for Change
Cheek Memorial Lecturer Marshall H. Klaus, M.D.Abstract
The fascinating question of how parental attachment progresses during the early postpartum period can be answered only by minutely examining what happens between parents and their newborns during this crucial time. When they are together in the first hours of life, multiple interactions simultaneously occur between mother and child. Each is intimately involved with the other on a number of levels, which lock the pair together. The mother and baby elicit behaviors in each other that are naturally rewarding. The renewed interest in this early period after birth has been stimulated by several provocative observations of both mothers and infants. Perhaps the most dramatic example of these observations is the ability of newborns, if left quietly on the mother's abdomen after birth to crawl from abdomen gradually up to her breast, find the nipple, and start to suckle.
In addition, when the infant suckles from the breast, there is a large outpouring of twenty different gastrointestinal hormones in both the mother and the infant, including cholecystokinins which stimulate growth of the baby's and mother's intestines and increase the absorption of calories with each feeding. The stimuli for this release are the mother's apple and the inside of the infant's mouth. These responses were essential for survival thousands of years ago when periods of famine were more common before the development of modem agriculture. This presentation described these new findings and why all mothers should receive early contact with suckling in the first hour after birth and rooming-in (two components of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative). New observations in the area of parent-to-infant bonding make it clear how traditional care of families in the perinatal period should be altered.
Note: Order the audiotape of Dr. Klaus' lecture, "Normal Perinatal Care for the 21st Century: Evidence for Change" from Sounds True, Boulder, CO, 1-800-333-9185.
The Thomas R. Verny Award Winner:
Michel Odent, M.D.The 1997 nominee to receive the Thomas R. Verny Award for Outstanding Contributions to Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health is Michel Odent of London, surgeon, path-breaking obstetrician, dedicated midwife, and researcher in the primal roots of health.
Michel's innovative leadership of the obstetrical unit of a state hospital in Pithiviers, France from 1962 to 1986 brought the world to his door. Although he went to Pithiviers to introduce a new technique of Cesarean delivery, his perceptive observations of women giving birth with the help of midwives, led to new psychological approaches to labor and birth which made cesarean deliveries rarely necessary. Odent became aware of the dynamic interaction of mind, emotion, and body affecting the mother and determining the outcome of birth. In a private environment, he noticed that women in labor went into a natural trance and would give birth spontaneously if not distracted by well-meaning instructions and interventions from those attending them.
At Pithiviers, the birthing area was slowly changed to be more functional, with beds built as low platforms on the floor making it easy to move about and shift postures at will. Water pools, unknown in hospitals at the time, were installed as an option for labor or birth. Birth was never induced; there were no drugs, painkillers, or forceps used. Mothers and infants remained together for hours after birth.
While there was no screening of patients for risk, and preparation for birth was very low-key, mostly group singing, the unit's safety statistics rose to rank among the best in the world. Michel's book, Birth Reborn (NY:Pantheon, 1984) with a Foreword by Doris Haire and an Introduction by Shiela Kitzinger told the story and drew the world's attention to Pithiviers. After two decades there, he was commissioned by the World Health Organization to study planned home birth in industrialized countries (1986-1990). To Michel, home birth was needed to properly evaluate the hospital experience of birth, and home needed to be rediscovered as the ideal place for both birth and death.
In 1990, he founded the Primal Health Research Centre in London and became a homebirth midwife. Much in demand around the world, he became an itinerant scholar-teacher to groups around the world, eventually publishing 30 professional papers and 9 books in 19 languages. He now edits the newsletter Primal Health Research which focuses on the long-term health consequences of conditions in utero, at birth, and in early infancy. EDITOR'S NOTE: The newsletter can be ordered in North America from Birthworks, 42 Tallowood Drive, Medford, NJ 08055. Visit Primal-Health.org. And, click here to learn more about the Thomas R. Verny Awards. To obtain an audiotape of Dr. Odent's address, "The Future of a Civilization Born Under Anesthesia" and all other tapes of this conference, please call Gold Key Recordings at 1-281-350-6295 or email: vgoldkey@ev1.net.
The citation presented to Dr. Odent along with the Verny Prize, was as follows:
TO Michel Odent, M.D. Visionary Accoucheur and Primal Health Pioneer We present the Thomas R. Verny Award for Outstanding Contributions to Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health. Your understanding of the foundations of health and the psychology of spontaneous birth are slowly making their way around the world holding promise for better birth and better health for babies, mothers, and fathers everywhere. APPPAH honors you today at its 8th International Congress December 5, 1997 in San Francisco, California