The World's Most Famous Obstetrician

Michel is a French obstetrician who developed the maternity unit at Pithiviers Hospital in France in the 1960s and '70s. He is the world's famous obstetrician who introduced the concept of birthing pools and home-like birthing rooms in the 1960s and 1970s. Michel also founded the Primal Health Research Center in London which focuses on the long-term consequences of early experiences. I met him at the MidwiferyToday Conference in 2000 in Philadelphia, PA where he spoke about the importance of oxytocin and early bonding between mother and baby. Michel talks about the importance  of early bonding because early experience, literally those first hours, can have a great impact on the person a baby becomes.

 

His approach has been featured in eminent medical journals, and in TV documentaries such as the BBC film Birth Reborn. After his hospital career he practiced homebirth. As a researcher, he founded the Primal Health Research Center in London (UK), which focuses upon the long-term consequences of early experiences. An overview of the Primal Health Research data bank ( www.birthworks.org/primalhealth) clearly indicates that health is shaped during the primal period (from conception until the first birthday). It also suggests that the way we are born has long-term consequences in terms of sociability, aggressiveness or, otherwise speaking, capacity to love.

His other research interests are non-specific, long-term effects on health of early multiple vaccinations. Author of 55 articles indexed in PubMed, Odent has published 11 books in 21 languages. In his books he developed the art of turning traditional questions around: "how to develop good health", instead of "how to prevent disease", or "how the capacity to love develops", instead of "how to prevent violence". "The Scientification of Love" and "The Farmer and the Obstetrician" raise urgent questions about the future of our civilizations. Dr. Odent's essays on the primal orgins of health and disease are of unique importance in the field of prenatal and perinatal psychology and health, and give substance to an urgent new branch of studies affecting all future families.

For as long as we can remember, childbirth was predominately a woman's business. We all  recognize that many women find the presence of a midwife helpful in birth, and I hope that midwives will continue to be available. Odent also claims that “Everywhere in the world there has been a tendency to dramatically alter the original role of the birth attendant, to deny the birthing woman’s need for privacy and to socialize childbirth. More often than not, the midwife has become an agent of the cultural milieu, transmitting its specific beliefs and rituals.

Michel Odent suggests a labouring woman not enter a warm bath until the onset of hard labour.  Then one can expect she will dilate quickly, say 1-1 ½ hours for a first baby. The contractions are less intense, less painful and more efficient in warm water.  Water is an obvious easy way to dramatically reduce adrenaline and it is a well-established fact that low adrenalin makes the first stage of labour easier and faster.   

He goes on to say that there comes a time when mothers in water feel the contractions are not working efficiently any longer; then when she gets out of the pool and experiences the cooler atmosphere the baby is born after a few huge contractions.  Odent tells us that the adrenalin rush caused by the change of temperature creates a fetus ejection reflex.  To know more about this man visit www.wombecology.com.