Product Description

"New Active Birth" will help you and your partner prepare for and experience an Active Birth. Naturally, throughout time and the world over, women have chosen to walk, stand, squat, lie - to move their bodies freely and actively to find the most comfortable positions for labour and birth. It is only we in the west who have the extraordinary notion that a woman should lie on her back in a position that defies the laws of nature and gravity. With this book, you can learn to develop all your body's resources to deal with the instinctive experience of childbirth. It is also for partners, teachers, midwives and everyone involved, to help mothers get up off the delivery table and to bring back some of the common sense which has been overlooked by modern obstetrics. "New Active Birth" is the new and revised edition of Janet Balaskas' pioneering and acclaimed "Active Birth" covering over 180 clear black and white photographs and line drawings throughout. Fully updated and extended with new information - includes sections on Water Birth and Recovery After Birth. It offers revised and expanded prenatal and postnatal exercises with step by step photographs. It presents a detailed up-to-the minute section covering every aspect of Active Birth at home and in hospital and the Active Birth Movement. Janet Balaskas is the founder of the Active Birth Movement. The mother of four children, she trained with the National Childbirth Trust and is a counsellor for childbirth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11355 in Books
• Published on: 1990-12-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From the Publisher
Every year the number of home births is increasing – Active Birth is not a trend it’s a definite social change and women want to know about it.
Active Birth is increasingly practiced in UK hospitals. Birthing pools are standard – and over half in the UK are supplied by Active Birth.

About the Author
Janet Balaskas is the founder of the Active Birth Movement. The mother of four children, she trained with the National Childbirth Trust and is a counsellor for childbirth.

Customer Reviews

A must read for all pregnant women!
My reading of New Active Birth totally influenced my approach to the birth of my daughter in September 1999. It gave me the confidence to give birth in the way I wanted to knowing that I was doing the right thing even though it went against convention. I found this book readable and concise with excellent reseach. Without it I'm certain that my experience of giving birth would have been much less pleasurable.

The ultimate preparation for an easier birth.
Janet balaskas helps the pregnant woman to understand how movement and natural birthing positions such as squatting helps us to cope with birth and help avoid intervention. Uses yoga based excercises to help you through pregnancy and birth, and postnatally. Covers homebirth, hospital birth,and topics such as breastfeeding with photos. I am finding it extremely useful and would recommend it whole heartedly along with Sheila kitzingers new pregnancy and childbirth.

every mum-to-be should read this!
I got this out at my library when pregnant with my second child and i thought it was so good and wanted to keep it that i bought it from here.
Although i had a 'normal' birth with my first child, for me it was not a positive experience that i hoped for. I had not prepared myself beforehand and did not expect to not be able to cope with the pain. I belive it was my fear and the drugs i was given that made it worse. Second time around i knew i wanted it to be different. I found out about Janet Balaskas and the Active Birth Centre when looking into natural childbirth. This book is excellent, it gives you the facts on everything to with childbirth and makes you realise that us women are made to give birth - naturally. It emphasises the fact that its being active in labour and birth that is important even if intervention is needed. It gave me the confidence to listen to my body and go with it, using my mind to cope with labour. I truly believe that this book helped me achieve the birth i wanted. I had my daughter at home (not planned) with no drugs for pain relief. It was an amazingly positive experience and i feel privileged to have had that. I would recommend this book to all mums-to-be and those having more children too!