A Gift for New Mothers: Traditional Wisdom of Preganancy, Birth and Motherhood

by Deborah Jackson

Book Overview

A global treasury of age-old wisdom for pregnancy, birth, and childcare. It's brimming with inspiring suggestions for the modern mother?from ways to choose your child's name, to planting a birth tree,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1844831280
• ISBN13: 9781844831289
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Duncan Baird

Customer Reviews

Kick-start your intuition

In these pages -- which are bright, colorful and lively, like the book's cover -- are very brief stories, revelations, and practical offerings on how pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are viewed and managed in traditional cultures. It is a fast, stimulating, upbeat, and useful read. The author, Deborah Jackson, is a journalist and mother of three. This book will appeal to people who are already part of a tradition of motherhood, as they will enjoy a further connection with tradition, and are bound to come across new and useful insights. It will also be useful to the woman immersed in a busy, western style life, who has little or no chance to slow down and make that connection. For those mothers this book may kick-start their intuition or deliver a fresh paradigm, a new way of experiencing their life change. I like the breezy style of writing which touches on various cultures in meaningful ways: "There are cultures in which childbirth is a major social event. When Navaho Native American mothers go into labour, the whole tribe gathers round to eat a meal and enjoy the spectacle. Among the Gasque people of Spain, a mother in labour is traditionally attended by her whole family. Weather allowing, the birth takes place outside, near a running stream. There is singing, story-telling and jokes to 'massage the mother and baby with laughter'. Yemenite women expect their neighbours and friends to visit during labour, to lend moral support, chant prayers to Allah and help out if necessary. In Yucatan Maya women in labour are not isolated from day-to-day life. They give birth in a blanket, slung from the rafters for privacy... ." This isn't to convince the woman of the western world who is immersed in a corporate job and on the go all the time, to sling anything from the rafters. The intent is to give perspective. It's good to know how others have walked a road you are walking. Perhaps the reader will relax into the possibilities. In that sense it is like reading a guidebook about a place you are going to tour; it gives you a feel for the history, culture, and practices associated with a new land. Some suggestions and ideas could certainly be considered, such as planting a birth tree, or recognition of the benefits of colostrum: "This rich pre-milk is produced in late pregnancy and for three days after birth. .... For a few hours after birth, colostrum contains enormous quantities of antibodies. In the first day it teems with fatty acids, growth factors, vitamins, zinc, immune defences and anti-infectious properties... ." To give you a further idea of what this book is about, here is a handful of selections from the index: acupressure, candles, Greek myths, Inuit birthing houses, May night celebrations, pre-natal bonds, seven-month ceremonies, Trobriand Islanders, Zulus. Whether or not this book results in specific action from the reader, it may open, inspire, and delight the woman or guy or reads it. Jerry Katz