Description: From the Directors of the Award-Winning Documentary Microbirth At least two amazing events happen during childbirth.There’s the obvious main event, which is the emergence of a new human into the world. But there’s another event taking place simultaneously, a crucial event that is not visible to the naked eye, an event that could determine the lifelong health of the baby. This is the seeding of the baby’s microbiome, the community of “good” bacteria that we carry with us throughout our lives.The seeding of the microbiome, along with breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact, kick-starts the baby’s immune system and helps protect the infant from disease across a lifetime. Researchers are discovering, however, that interventions such as the use of synthetic oxytocin, antibiotics, C-sections, and formula feeding interfere with, or bypass completely, the microbial transfer from mother to baby. These bacteria are vital for human health, and science has linked an imbalance in the human microbiome with multiple chronic diseases.Drawing on the extensive research they carried out for their documentary film Microbirth, authors Toni Harman and Alex Wakeford reveal a fascinating new view of birth and how microscopic happenings can have lifelong consequences, for ourselves, our children―and our species as a whole. =========================== “Only in recent years has the ‘microbiome’ of the baby come to the attention of the obstetric and birthing communities. I believe that midwives and birth activists have come to be much more aware of its importance than doctors themselves because to acknowledge the essential need for the baby’s body to be colonized with its mother’s microflora rather than that of strangers entails making all efforts possible to avoid Cesarean section and to facilitate normal vaginal birth, immediate skin-to-skin contact of mother and newborn, and breastfeeding. While obstetricians have certainly come in recent decades to understand the importance of breastfeeding, they continue to perform Cesareans on 32 percent of American birthing women and appear to be making no efforts to reduce that extremely high rate. I believe that if parents come to understand the findings presented in this excellent and informative book, they themselves will make greater efforts to achieve vaginal birth and to insist on the mother’s hands to be the first to touch the newborn in order to bring him or her straight to the breast―or, even better, to allow the baby the chance to inch its own way up the mother’s body, thereby empowering itself at the very beginning of life and colonizing with her microflora all the way. I hope this extremely useful and informative book will be widely distributed and widely read, and that its findings will change birthing practice in this country and around the world!”--Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, senior research fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin; author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage; lead editor of Birth Models That Work
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Location: Clayton, North Carolina
End Time: 2024-12-02T14:17:36.000Z
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Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Signed: No
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UPC: 9781603586955
Narrative Type: Nonfiction
MPN: N/A
Original Language: English
Inscribed: No
Vintage: No
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EAN: 9781603586955
ISBN: 9781603586955
Personalized: No
Book Title: Your Baby's Microbiome : the Critical Role of Vaginal Birth and Breastfeeding for Lifelong Health
Number of Pages: 208 Pages
Language: English
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Publication Year: 2017
Topic: Life Sciences / Microbiology, Immunology, Microbiology, Pregnancy & Childbirth, Life Sciences / Bacteriology, Life Sciences / Human Anatomy & Physiology, Diseases / Immune & Autoimmune
Item Height: 0.5 in
Illustrator: Yes
Genre: Health & Fitness, Science, Medical
Item Weight: 9.6 Oz
Item Length: 8 in
Author: Alex Wakeford, Toni Harman
Item Width: 6 in
Format: Trade Paperback
