The nature of birth and breast-feeding / Michel Odent.

Votre bébé est le plus beau des mammifères. English

Westport, Conn. : Bergin & Garvey, 1992.

xiv, 140 pages ; 22 cm

Translation of: Votre bébé est le plus beau des mammifères.

Copy 1. Donor: Family of Sheila Kitzinger.

Copy 1. Inscription to Sheila Kitzinger on title page.

Ch. 1. Our Mammalian Roots. Different ways to discover our mammalian roots. The case of a little girl from North Dakota -- Ch. 2. At the Dawn of the Post-Electronic Age. Studies demonstrating the negative side effects of electronic fetal monitoring. Their historical importance -- Ch. 3. The Hospital of the Future. How to give priority to the need for privacy in the hospitals and birthing centers of the post-electronic age -- Ch. 4. On Another Planet. The human environment in the birth place. Protection of privacy -- Ch. 5. The Fetus Ejection Reflex. Let us save from oblivion Niles Newton's phrase regarding the birth of nonhuman mammals -- Ch. 6. Cats. Some diversion for those who need to recover after a rather technical chapter -- Ch. 7. The Old and the New. Human beings are condemned to live with two brains: the old brain and the new brain. This is the main chapter of the book.

Ch. 8. Colostrum and Civilization. Every culture has its own way of altering the well-being of the newborn baby and, directly or indirectly, the early contact with its mother. What are the evolutionary advantages of these almost universal attitudes? Genesis of the ecological sense -- Ch. 9. From Holland to Malawi. The points in common between a highly educated Dutch midwife and an illiterate and innumerate Malawi traditional birth attendant -- Ch. 10. Photos and Videos. An epidemic we should be aware of. The invasive camera -- Ch. 11. Freud as a Midwife. Just as Freud made his breakthrough when he discarded authoritarian hypnosis and started to sit unseen in a corner, in the same way the low-profile midwives are the real experts where the physiology of the birth process is concerned. The research by John Kennell and Marshall Klaus about the doula -- Ch. 12. The Hormone of Love. An inkling about the hormonal basis of what we commonly call "love."

Ch. 13. Breastfeeding and Monogamy. The duration of breastfeeding and family structures are two inseparable topics -- Ch. 14. Lullaby Time. The rediscovery of the specifically human lullaby.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-138) and index.