| Abstrakt: |
Away from the limelight of the publicity and debates about the “Leboyer delivery” a slowly growing number of American physicians, nurses, childbirth educators, and other professionals are taking an active interest in the concepts espoused by the French physician, Frederick Leboyer, in his book Birth Without Violence and the film of the same name. Consumers are also taking an interest, and, due largely to their demands, more and more of them are finding that the kind of childbirth experience Dr. Leboyer describes is available if they “shop around.” Leboyer s interest in providing for the newborn a more gentle introduction into the world outside the womb sprang from his recall, through psychoanalysis, of the emotional trauma he experienced during his own birth. The authors of the following article explore the psychological and, especially, the physiological foundations implied in Leboyer s approach to delivery. They identify four facets of Leboyer s approach for their consideration: 1) a gentle, controlled delivery, 2) not stressing the craniosacral axis, 3) not overstimulating the newborn s sensorium or breathing, and 4) the importance of the maternal‐infant bond. |
