Being Pregnant
Lamaze Isn’t Just About Breathing
Last summer I took a course to become Lamaze Educated, essentially meaning I have the background training to sit and take the Lamaze Certification exam, which I plan for the fall at this point. And can teach childbirth education classes.
When I first started looking into becoming a childbirth educator, I didn’t realize how many different kinds of childbirth classes, and philosophies there are out there. It kind of blew my mind!
In the end, I decided on Lamaze. It was what I could relate to most, and the method I found to be most like my own personal thoughts on childbirth. I thought I would fit nicely into the community, and I have realized in this time, I was right!
During my process on becoming Lamaze educated I noticed a huge trend. Everyone still thinks that Lamaze is that ridiculous breathing that you always see in movies… Whoooo Whoooooo HEEEEEEEEEE in the back of a taxi cab, while the partner screams “Remember your Lamaze!” Ahh! I think this is the first, and largest misconception today when it comes to what Lamaze is really about. While there is a level of focus on breathing, the course as a whole is not focused around the late 80′s Look Who’s Talking birth scenes.
In the 1950′s a man by the name of Fernand Lamaze, a French Obstetrician developed a method of breathing and relaxation to help women in labor, and coping with the pain of childbirth. Over the next decades Lamaze evolved into what it is today and has turned far away from the original breathing focused birth technique. During this time, Lamaze has really changed from a method for giving birth to a philosophy that helps to educate women on what birth can and should be, while giving them confidence on birthing the way our bodies are intended to.
The Lamaze Philosophy of Birth includes :
- Birth is normal, natural, and healthy.
- The experience of birth profoundly affects women and their families.
- Women’s inner wisdom guides them through birth.
- Women’s confidence and ability to give birth is either enhanced or diminished by the care provider and place of birth.
- Women have the right to give birth free from routine medical interventions.
- Birth can safely take place in homes, birth centers, and hospitals.
- Childbirth education empowers women to make informed choices in healthcare, to assume responsibility for their health, and trust their inner wisdom.
That is a far cry from teaching women how to pant through birth through strange breathing techniques.
The words birth and experience are used a lot in the subject of childbirth education. Many feel as though the experience for mother and baby are not important as long as the end result is a healthy baby. More and more modern day studies are showing this to be more and more inaccurate, as there are an increasing number of birth trauma cases that go hand in hand with the rising number of surgical births, and birth experiences that have a lot of medical interventions.
I think my favorite phrase I took out of my training was “Not your Ma’s Lamaze” because what the focus on today is certainly not the Lamaze our mothers and grandmothers knew.
photo: flickr.com/eyeliam
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Summer commented on Feb 28 11 at 1:16 pmI’d be interested to see how much it has changed in just 10 years. I took Lamaze while pregnant with my son and while it did discuss the philosophies you list here, the section on breathing was, in fact, the whooo whoo heeeeee method. It was just WAY too much for me to think about during labor and supposedly I “wasn’t doing it right” which was very frustrating.
Does Lamaze still implement that sort of breathing or has a new, or several types of breathing been accepted?
Danielle625 commented on Feb 28 11 at 1:18 pmThere really isn’t a “standard” type of breathing that is taught. I am sure there are still Lamaze teachers out there who teach or focus on the old school type breathing, but a lot of what I have learned in the past year really has focused on relaxation, and using calm breathing, rather than scripted or a certain pattern.
Cara @ Giving Birth with Confidence commented on Feb 28 11 at 1:32 pmGreat post Danielle! You really covered the major points on what Lamaze is like today. Lamaze has evolved beyond a method, and is more of a comprehensive education. @Summer– Thanks for your input. For more information about the modern-day thoughts on Lamaze breathing, check this out: http://givingbirthwithconfidence.org/2010/10/lamaze-breathing-what-you-need-to-know/
-Cara Terreri, Site Manager for Lamaze’s Giving Birth with Confidence
Lucy Juedes commented on Mar 01 11 at 8:05 amDitto with Danielle’s comments. I spend 10 minutes practicing that fast breathing technique. Much more practice of relaxation and comfort positions.
And throughout my classes we focus on Lamaze’s 6 care practices — let baby and body begin birth, get continuous support, move freely, accept only necessary interventions — nothing routine, push how and when you need to from upright or sidelying position, and have baby with you immediately for breastfeeding.
And I’ve found my Lamaze classes to be really meeting a need in our community and no shortage of interested parents.
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