In the 1960’s childbirth without medication was not done. Laboring mothers were sent to the hospital and most were given a drug that was referred to as “Twilight”. The woozy mother was unable to push effectively and a large number of babies were born blue due to the stress.

It was taboo to breastfeed in that era. It was thought that the only people to even consider nursing babies were dumb, backwoods people. A nurse told me that it was vulgar to put a baby to your breast to nurse. Doctors told new mothers that it was impossible to know the baby was receiving adequate nourishment because breastmilk couldn’t be measured. ‘Since you cannot measure breast milk, it is dangerous to nurse.’ ‘People who breastfeed are letting their babies go hungry!’

In order to assure proper nutrition, these same doctors said you needed to feed babies according to their proven medical recommendations. Following doctors’ orders, mothers fattened their babies with homemade formulas of pasteurized milk flavored with Karo syrup. This was before throw-away diapers and commercial baby formulas were being marketed.

Nature and medicine had parted ways. Women began to ask their doctors questions.

The year was 1973, and I joined the ranks of those women trying to find our way back to motherhood as God intended it. I looked for answers to my many questions. A doctor pooh-poohed me. His manner indicated that he thought I was dumb, and I almost believed him. In the face of his arrogance, I stiffened with a certainty born of an ancient mother-knowing. I told him in no uncertain terms that I would have this baby at home. If he dared to call Child Protection on me, I informed him that they would never find me and that I would not be stopped from birthing AND nursing my baby.

My lone battle isn’t what won the war, though. Many voices are required for real change. _ Such change requires a widespread outcry. Rather than accept the latest recommendations, women in the 60’s started writing books about how to give birth naturally, how to breastfeed effectively and how to bond with your baby rather than allow your little one to be carted off to a nursery. From those seeds grew the homeschooling movement. It is to those passionate, rebellious women we owe a debt though many books have since been published on the topic of natural childbirth and mothering. It was this same passion that made young mamas jump up and scream, “Yes I CAN!”

Now because a few courageous authors used their voices and their pens, blue babies and twilight births are a thing of the past. A doctor that claimed breastfeeding was vulgar or unsafe would lose all credibility. Today, the first generation of naturally birthed, homeschooled children are educated, successful parents homeschooling their own healthy, happy offspring. The old adage, ‘Mother knows best’ has been proven when it comes to babies.

Those books gave me and other mothers valuable information about natural methods even if the author wasn’t always a believer. I was the beneficiary of their desire to inform.

Following the example of those pioneers that came before me, I have written this latest book, The Vision by Debi Pearl. It is my desire to see those who come after me benefit from my writing just as I benefitted from those writers from the 1960’s.

Interested in more baby training tips? No Greater Joy is a ministry dedicated to helping parents bring up children they enjoy. They have written a bestseller called To Train Up A Child that has helped thousands.

Article Source: Natural Wisdom in Birth and Mothering