A new book from Michel Odent

I am, once more, enjoying a book written by Michel Odent, the French doctor who has contributed an enormous amount to my understanding of the physiology of normal birth.

Last week I sat in a workshop and listened to Michel speak, without notes or anything remotely modern, such as a data projector, for three hours. It required a lot of concentration to understand his accent, which seems more 'French' than it was a few years ago, the last time I heard him speak. There was also a problem with the microphone, which didn't help. I chatted with him at lunch time, and he autographed my copy of his new book.

This octogenarian champion of birth physiology is not going to please many of his readers all the time. For instance, he has come down hard on the natural childbirth movement, for its penchant for birth videos, its teachings about 'support', its masculinization of the birth room, and much much more. You will have to read the book to get the full picture. Here is a brief quote from p47-48:

Language is a specifically human stimulant of the [neo]cortex. This implies that in situations associated with intense activity of archaic brain structures, such as giving birth, exposure to language should be avoided. ... Of course, after thousands of years of culturally controlled childbirth, silence as a basic need cannot be accepted overnight. It is all the more difficult today since many theories that are at the root of 'natural childbirth' movements have reinforced a deep-rooted cultural conditioning and have introduced to the birthing place a guide (a 'coach') who does not hesitate to use language.

There are statements that will not please midwife intellectuals and researchers, particularly his apparent uncritical acceptance of recent publications such as the meta analysis by Wax et al (2010) which report increased adverse outcomes for women at low risk who plan home birth (see p60). This study has been strongly criticised for its methodology and conclusions.

When reading this book I detect an idealism that seems to suggest that all women will be fine if only they can progress within an appropriate setting that is silent, unstimulating, free of husband and other onlookers, free of language, and with a midwife who is knitting in the corner. There seems to be an avoidance of recognition of the midwife's role in detecting complications and accessing appropriate specialis care when progress is abnormal. I am willing to understand this apparent bias as an assumption that readers already know about such matters.

There is a very interesting discussion around the phenomen of two midwives attending a birth together. This practice is widely promoted in Melbourne by hospitals and independent midwives: indeed some of my colleagues have told me that they consider it unwise and possibly unsafe for me to attend a birth as a solo midwife. Don't I know there could be two people needing my attention at once?

Another obstacle is a deep-rooted tendency to introduce without any caution several people around the labouring woman. This tendency is as old as the socialisation of childbirth. In many societies one of the women around plays the role of the midwife, often accompanied by relatives or neighbours. Traditionally the midwife is an autonomous, very independent person. There are proverbs, in places as diverse as Persia or SOuth America, claiming that the presence of two midwives makes the birth difficult. In Persia, they used to say: When there are two midwives, the baby's head is crooked". (p63)

A further comment in the context of people who have been introduced into the birthing room:

"The doula phenomenon is such a sudden international phenomenon that it must be analysed and interpreted in the context of the twenty-first century." (p 63),

and

As long as the studies [about doulas] were conducted in low-income Hispanic populations [in the US], the statistical results clearly confirmed the positive effects of the presence of a doula. The findings were different in the context of middle-class American populations, ... where the presence of a doula had no impact on the rates of caesarean deliverise and other operative deliveries." (p64)

I have not yet finished reading 'Childbirth in the age of plastics', but wanted to get these comments up on the blog pronto!


Thankyou for your comments