Can birth really be natural and safe for you and your baby?

How does the superb design of your female body enhance safety, ease and pleasure in labour and birth?

Can a gentle birth give the best possible start in life, leading to profound and pleasurable experiences in the early days, weeks and months for all involved?

Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering answers your important question and gives you the information you need to create a safe, satisfying, and gentle start to family life. Dr Sarah Buckley, family physician and mother of four, shares the science as well as the wisdom of gentle choices in pregnancy, birth and parenting.

Dr Buckley explains, in easy to understand language, the logic, safety and benefits of natural birth and gentle parenting, using the best medical evidence. She also explains the conditions we need to optimize the flow of the “ecstatic hormones” that every woman’s body produces during a natural labour and birth, and that continue to support her during early mothering.

I love your book. It is delightfully easy to read, inspiring, incredibly informative, and it speaks to women from a gentle yet empowering voice. You beautifully combine common sense with medical information which cultivates awareness and a path to awakening. Your own personal stories create a soft loving touch.”

Making wise choices in pregnancy and birth

• Which simple approach will help you to make the best choices in every area of pregnancy and birth?
• Should you accept testing for gestational diabetes?
• Are antibiotics necessary in labor to prevent group B strep?
• Is it better to be induced for going overdue?
• Is ultrasound safe for your unborn baby?
• What are the risks and benefits of epidurals?
• Is a cesarean safer than a natural birth?
• When is a cesarean really necessary?
• Is it safe to have a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)?
• How can you and your baby have the best possible cesarean experience, if really needed?
• Is homebirth a safe choice?
• How can you choose your homebirth midwife?

Gentle Birth:

• How does birth affect us, individually, as a society and in our relationship to the Earth?
• How can we enhance our instinctive connection to our bodies and our babies during pregnancy?
• How can our instincts help us during labour and birth?
• What is Mother Nature’s superb design for our female bodies in labour and birth and how can this design enhance ease, pleasure and safety for mothers and babies?
• What are the “ecstatic hormones” of labour and birth and how do they work, for mother and baby?
• What is undisturbed birth, and how can an undisturbed labour and birth benefit mother and baby?

After birth, breastfeeding and bonding

• How does a natural, undisturbed birth enhance breastfeeding and bonding for mothers and babies?
• Why is it important to not disturb mother and baby during the hour after birth?
• Is it safer to clamp your baby’s umbilical cord soon after birth or later?
• Is it a good idea to bank your bank’s cord blood?
• What is lotus birth and how might it benefit you and your baby?
• Can gentle early parenting benefit life-long brain and emotional development?
• What are the benefits of breastfeeding for mother and baby?
• Will breastfeeding continue to benefit your toddler?
• Hoe can you get the best sleep in the early months?
• What do you need to know to share a bed safely with your baby?