Читать книгу New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth - Janet Balaskas - Страница 8

A growing number of women, midwives, nurses, obstetricians and childbirth educators are questioning positions that characterise modern labour and birth practices, and the passive, patient-orientated role demanded of women in contemporary maternity care. The specific practice that is being criticised is the almost exclusive use of lying down (recumbent) positions for childbirth known as supine, dorsal or lithotomy positions. There is more than sufficient evidence that upright birth positions, i.e. kneeling, sitting, standing and squatting, are more advantageous to both mother and child.

Position and movement in labour is an area of fundamental importance which has been, in the past, almost completely neglected by birth attendants in the management of labour, and therefore also prenatal teachers in the preparation of women in birth. The choice of position determines the training of midwives and doctors. It also determines their approach and the kind of environment in which women labour and give birth. It can also determine the successful outcome of the birth and the quality of the experience for both mother and baby.