megapanalo Natural Birth and Breastfeeding:The Decisions That Women Face
Natural Childbirth Isn’t Actually the IdealHealth, safety and happiness are crucial for new parents.
To the Editor:
Re “Mothers Are Told That Natural Childbirth Is Best. It Isn’t,” by Michelle Goldberg (“Don’t Tell My Friends, But …” series, Aug. 4):
Ms. Goldberg needs to take a breath. Some of us are old enough to remember when women were subject to all kinds of unnecessary, traumatic and counterproductive measures (strapped down to the delivery table, given routine episiotomies and non-medically indicated C-sections) because they had no choice or power in childbirth. The natural birth movement changed the balance of power for women.
Women still need C-sections. They have options for medication or no medication. They can breastfeed for two years or not breastfeed at all. They control their birth experience. That was not always the case, and it took a lot of fearless advocacy to make it happen.
To associate the natural birth movement with anti-vaxxers is a real disservice to the feminist pioneers who worked so hard to put women back in charge of childbirth.
Carol BradyAtlantic Beach, Fla.The writer is a former executive for nonprofits focused on maternal and child health.
To the Editor:
Interesting how the pendulum swings. When I had my first child in the 1970s, my doctor tried to make me feel like a terrible mother because I wasn’t feeding my son puréed meat and vegetables at a month old. I was sent home from the hospital with a month’s supply of corporate baby formula. La Leche League publications were the lone source of helpful information on how to successfully breastfeed your baby — I basically ignored their other ideas about motherhood.
At the time, home births were virtually unheard of in the U.S., and in the hospital, while I managed to escape being put to sleep during labor, nothing like “natural childbirth” was available. My mother, 25 years earlier, had wanted to breastfeed but was talked out of it by her nurses and doctors.
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