The Better Baby Book (30 page)

Many hospitals separate the mother and the baby almost immediately after birth. From the perspective of epigenetics, this is a life-changing disruption of the natural growth processes in the baby. This separation also deprives mothers of the nipple stimulation from immediate nursing that they need to release oxytocin naturally. Making things worse, as we noted earlier, most hospitals clamp the umbilical cord within seconds of birth, cutting off the baby's life supply.

Oxytocin is a hormone that plays a large role in female reproduction and birth. Immediately after birth, oxytocin is responsible for contracting the uterus and preventing postpartum hemorrhage. Although hospitals now use synthetic oxytocin to control this, we're certain that separating the mother from the baby is ultimately detrimental to both, especially if the oxytocin is not bioidentical. Babies also release oxytocin from early contact with their mothers, raising their body temperatures to deal with the new, cooler environment of the outside world.

A 1998 study pointed out that contact with the mother is a more effective way to warm a baby than an incubator is. Many hospitals bathe the newborns so soon that the babies' body temperatures become dangerously low. Hospitals engaging in this practice do so against the World Health Organization's recommendation that a baby not be bathed for six hours after birth.

Considering all of this, it seems that hospitals have little regard for the fact that they're dealing with a critical time in a new baby's life and that their practices are often at the mother's expense rather than for her benefit. Countries with the very safest maternity care don't use risky medical procedures unless absolutely necessary. The five European countries with the lowest infant mortality rates—Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg—use midwives for more than
70 percent of births. In the Netherlands, more than half of the babies are born at home assisted by a professional midwife. Their infant mortality rate is far lower than the rate in the United States, where hospital birth is predominant.

Lana, who comes from Sweden, was shocked to see the heavy interference in the birth process in the United States. Here birth is viewed as a medical emergency right from the outset. In Sweden, birth is viewed as a natural bodily process that works best with no interference except in serious emergencies. Scheduled C-sections, for nonmedical reasons, are fairly common in the United States but nonexistent in Sweden. In Scandinavia, and most of Europe, a C-section is properly viewed for what it is: major abdominal surgery. So it is performed only when indicated on serious medical grounds. Even women who live very far away from a hospital or a birthing center will not have a scheduled C-section. They are just admitted well ahead of time, so they can deliver naturally.

Planning Birth at Home or in the Hospital

Now that you're aware of what makes for a gentle birth and what makes conventional hospital birth so harsh for mother and baby, you can take steps to plan for a gentle birth, whether you choose home or the hospital for your location.

We chose to plan birth at home because we wanted to have full control over the birth environment so we could take each of the steps discussed above without any interference or mistakes in communication among hospital staff. We worked with our midwife, Ronnie, from the moment of conception and carefully arranged for backup care from a local hospital if necessary, especially since Lana was over thirty-five, the age at which risks start to go up significantly. After going through two home births, we're happy we chose that. Lana found it very comforting to be surrounded by familiar faces, and she really appreciated having the greatest comfort and privacy possible. Ultimately though, you will have the best birth in the place where you feel most comfortable and safe. If this is in the hospital, here's a checklist of things to create gentle birth:

• If you're working with a midwife, you can request that your midwife be the primary birth assistant in the hospital and that your doctor be available as medical backup.
  
• Insist that no drugs be used unless
  you
  ask for them, or there is a medical emergency.
  
• Ask the hospital staff to let you give birth in the position you're most comfortable with. You might even request a water birth.
  
• Ask the staff not to separate you from your baby after birth or bathe your baby too early.
  
• Ask the staff not to clamp the umbilical cord until you give permission.
  
• As soon as it's confirmed that you and your baby are okay, ensure that privacy will be granted.
  
• Have a C-section only if it's an absolute emergency. Many doctors in the United States will do an unplanned and unnecessary C-section in the heat of the moment, so this is something you'll want to plan well in advance and make sure your doctor understands.
  
• If the hospital won't grant all of your requests, you can look for another hospital, a birthing center, or consider home birth.
  

A European Perspective on Birth

As a Swedish doctor, Lana is amazed at the difference in the ways that birth is viewed and dealt with in the United States and in Sweden (and Europe in general). In the United States, a profound mistrust of the natural birth process is prevalent. The planned C-sections, frivolous interventions, and heavy regimen of vaccinations within a few days of birth are unnatural and uncommon in other parts of the world. Also, maternity leave from employment is extremely short in the United States.

In Sweden, most births are assisted by midwives in hospitals or birthing centers attached to hospitals. An ob-gyn will be present only if there is a serious complication or a medical emergency. There are few C-sections and other interventions, and there certainly aren't any planned convenience C-sections. Maternity leave from employment in Sweden starts an entire month before the due date, and a partial salary can extend up to eighteen months after birth. In Germany and the Netherlands, home births are very common.

The postpartum bonding of mother and baby is considered very important in Sweden; the mother and the baby are not separated right after birth unless there is a life-threatening emergency. Nurses in maternity wards are encouraged not to handle the baby, and the father is encouraged to catch the baby and hand him or her to the mother, so frequently a baby has been touched only by his or her parents within the first few hours of birth. The baby is not washed or weighed until he or she is fully acclimated to life outside the womb. Swedes would be absolutely shocked to hear that babies in the United States are given silver nitrate eyedrops and shots of vitamin K right after birth. The heel prick test where blood is taken from the baby's heel with a sharp lancet is done when a baby is five days old, not right after birth. Vaccines are nowhere in sight at the maternity ward. The Swedish vaccination program, like many other European programs, starts at three months of age. Only then is a baby considered old enough to have developed the beginnings of an immune system and therefore able to benefit from the vaccines.

Planning a Vaginal Birth after a Caesarian

Many women who have had a C-section wish to have a vaginal birth later. This is called
vaginal birth after caesarian
, or VBAC. Generally, VBACs are considered safe unless a woman has had two C-sections before and has never given birth vaginally or if there is scarring above the lower, thinner part of the uterus. Only your doctor can tell you whether VBAC will be safe for you, given your individual condition. If after consulting with your doctor you decide to plan a VBAC, it's a smart move to take extra steps to strengthen your uterine and vaginal tissues. Although there's no study proving that poor nutrition results in a greater incidence of uterine rupture, a weaker uterus would of course be more likely to rupture. And just as a malnourished body is weaker in general, so is a malnourished uterus.

The methods that strengthen the uterus involve the same foods and supplements we use for so many other reasons. Taken in the last trimester, hydrolyzed collagen and glycine give the body the raw protein materials it needs to strengthen the tissues. Vitamin C (five thousand milligrams a day), N-acetyl cysteine, and a high-quality liposomal glutathione will keep the tissues detoxified, which is paramount when strengthening tissue. Fresh vegetables provide a range of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals that the body needs to build and detox the tissues. Taken throughout pregnancy, these foods and supplements will go a long way toward preventing uterine rupture.

Mycotoxins can be a grave threat for VBAC, because they disrupt endocrine function and damage the reproductive system. Activated charcoal, bentonite and zeolite clays, and carrots can help the body to eliminate mycotoxins. If you've had a C-section before, taking these steps at any time will strengthen the reproductive organs. Ideally, you should plan to strengthen them before you become pregnant again.

Nursing

There's now an overwhelming amount of research proving that breast feeding helps your baby to grow his or her very best, far outperforming formula in a number of areas, including brain development.

A 1999 study led by James W. Anderson of the University of Kentucky drew on twenty previous studies on cognitive development scores since 1929, only ten of which were done in the United States. Dr. Anderson's study concluded that “breast-feeding was associated with significantly higher scores for cognitive development than was formula feeding.” The breast-fed children had an average IQ that was 2.7 to 5 points higher than the average IQ of the formula-fed children. The children who were born with a lower birth weight saw a greater intelligence increase from breast-feeding than children who were born at a normal birth weight. In addition, the children who were breast-fed for longer than twenty-eight weeks outperformed children who were breast-fed for eight to eleven weeks and strongly outperformed formula-fed children.

In the twenty studies combined, the intelligence tests were performed on children who ranged from six months to sixteen years of age, so the effects were observed over a wide range of ages and maturity levels; regardless of age, breast-fed children outperformed their formula-fed counterparts. This was true whether the formulas contained added omega-3 or not.

Breast milk has other advantages over manufactured formulas. First, formula couldn't possibly replace the mother's colostrum, which is very high in antibodies to jump-start her baby's immune system. No formula manufacturer could anticipate the exact set of antibodies a baby will need most, but the mother's body knows exactly how to protect the baby.

Second, breast milk is easier to digest, and we're sure that breast milk contains many things that we cannot reproduce and add to baby formulas. During a critical time of development, a formula-fed baby is deprived of much of the raw materials he or she needs to develop properly. From an epigenetics perspective, the act of breast-feeding can itself activate infant growth genes. No formula can replicate this.

Eating Right to Make Healthy Milk

The essential fatty acid content of mother's milk is heavily dependent on the mother's own diet. This means that until you're done nursing (preferably not till after twelve to eighteen months), you should continue to eat a diet high in healthy fats and low in unhealthy ones. Eating right for nursing is just like eating right for pregnancy. If you're following the diet we describe in this book, your milk will be rich in all of the nutrients your baby needs. As always, the healthy fats are important, because breast milk is 50 percent fat by calorie, with half of that being saturated fat. About 18 percent of the saturated fats are medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), like what is found in coconut oil. To maintain the right healthy fat levels in your milk, eat these foods on a daily basis:

• Two raw egg yolks
  
• One serving of krill oil capsules
  
• Two tablespoons of cold-pressed walnut, almond, or nut oil for omega-3
  
• Three to four tablespoons of coconut cream, meat, or oil, or a high-quality MCT oil
  
• Plenty of full-fat butter produced exclusively from 100 percent grass-fed cows (any other butter will be far too high in omega-6)
  
• Five tablespoons of cold-pressed olive oil (for no more than seven grams of omega-6)
  

Considering all of the healthy fat you'll be eating during pregnancy, your body will long be accustomed to this kind of fat intake. To learn more about other sources of healthy fats like avocados, see chapter 5.

Formula has many shortcomings. One of its greatest faults is its lack of healthy fats. We know that breast-milk is 50 percent fat and that the nonwater makeup of the brain is more than 60 percent fat. We also know that if a baby doesn't consume enough fat, his or her brain is not likely to be constructed to its fullest potential. Breast milk is high in DHA and ALA, two fatty acids that compose a large amount of the brain's fat. Even though some of the better brands of formula now contain DHA and ALA, they still lack many of the essential fatty acids contained in a mother's milk. In addition, the DHA and ALA in these formulas come from microalgae and are oxidized (toxic).

What If Breastfeeding Isn't an Option?

Although infant health and cognitive development is best supported by breast-feeding, there are some situations in which breast milk may be unavailable. For these times, and for these times only, we suggest a recipe to fortify a standard high-end formula with extra nutrients. It's the best alternative we've found. All of this comes with the caveat, however, that if you are able to breast-feed your baby, you are doing him or her a great disservice if you choose not to. Also, try to get breast milk from a lactating friend or family member before you use formula. Formula should be the very last resort.

When you must use formula, here is how you can fortify a high-quality one with the fatty acids it lacks. This recipe is derived from a Weston A. Price Foundation recipe.