Body Language and Birth Memory*

Two phases of research into birth memory are presented here: 1) interviews with 2½ – 3½-year-old children regarding their prenatal life and experience of birth, and 2) the results of dissertation research using body language to identify echoes in the body of prenatal and birth experiences.
The initial study upon which this paper is based was undertaken in 1990, at the suggestion of Thomas Verny, the founder of APPPAH, as part of a graduate course in pre- and perinatal psychol-ogy. This led to the second study five years later, which was originally planned as a follow-up, broader, and more in-depth interview project. As this was my dissertation, my committee had to ap-prove the design and felt that the verbal reports of young children would not be academically re-spected, so a re-design using body language was implemented. The second study took place in Den-ver, Colorado, from 1995-1997. Both studies are described in more detail below