SPIRITUAL MIDWIFERY ON THE FARM

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BREASTFEEDING

As a community, we don't have breastfeeding problems. You can count them on one handout of 750 birthings?and when problems have occurred it's just been tender nipples or something like that. When it's assumed by a group of ladies that breastfeeding's OK and that they don't have to feel worried or inhibited about doing it, the emotional support that they give each other seems to be all they need. They don't have to read long books about it.

We think it's a good idea to nurse the baby? when the nipples have been cleaned-just as soon after the birth as the mother wants to.

BONDING

The mother ought to hold her new baby a whole lot. The first few hours?and especially the first 30 minutes-of an infant's life are of extreme importance in the development of the relationship between mother and baby. It's crucial that the two have no unnecessary interferences during this time, and that the mother hold the baby and look into his or her eyes (yes, a newborn can see) as much as possible. Uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact seems to foster a good mother-child relationship.

Marshall Klaus and John Kennell of Case Western Reserve University have been doing research in this for years, and their work has shown that interruptions and separation during this critical bonding period have adverse effects on the relationship and on the further development of the baby. Yet the good effects demonstrated where infants have had this uninterrupted time with their mothers have ranged from higher survival rate, higher intelligence, and greater adaptability to more friendliness and a more affectionate mother-child relationship. This exactly corroborates our own observations derived from delivering and caring for so many babies.

We observe that there is a process of bonding between father and child as well. Fathers who have witnessed the births of their children seem to form an especially close attachment to these children, and-like their mates-have profound spiritual experiences at the birthings.

This is an important issue, because I think it strikes at the heart of some of our biggest problems in this culture. Given the kind of planetary consciousness we're in, there are obviously a lot of things we need to change in order to feel that the world will be a safe place for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Several of the men who've attended the births of their children on The Farm have said that if every man in this world could only see his child being born, there would be fewer wars .

It's a human right that the family is the principal in the sacrament of birth and death. This right should not be usurped by a profit-oriented system. Huge amounts of money and energy are being wasted in the delivery rooms of hospitals, through people actually monopolizing that critical time in all these people's lives and putting their own imprint on these new souls.

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