The Nourisher - Editor’s Blog

The incidence of so called emergency C-Sections and supposed elective cesarean delivery is on the rise. There are many reasons for this. One is the stark terror our women feel when exposed to messages from media, television and movies, family, friends and most criminal of all, medicine. We are told birth is painful, terrifying and messy and we can’t do it alone. Why else would any sane woman opt to have her stomach cut open and her child taken from her body? If we didn’t have such messages would we have difficult labours that lead to cesarean, would we choose to desecrate our bodies in this way?

Apart from the obvious emotional benefits of ignoring the nightmare song our culture sings about birth and choosing to birth joyfully empowered and without ‘assistance’, there are physical benefits for children born via the birth canal.

One such benefit is inoculation of the infant with bowel bacteria. Jeff Leach on his paleobiotics lab website waxes lyrical:

“The intestine of the unborn fetus in the mother’s womb is sterile €“ devoid of any bacteria at all. However, during vaginal delivery the newborn comes in contact with bacteria-rich vaginal and fecal matter of the mother. These bacteria quickly invade and populate the newborn child…This evolutionary bacterial right of passage has been and continues to be critical to the success of our species €“ and all mammals for that matter.

A child born through c-section essentially skips this critical evolutionary process. Though a c-section baby does receive bacteria from the mother, it’s not the diverse and dense “base population€ that it would have received from the vaginal fluids and fecal matter via a traditional birth.”

Of course, making sure the bacteria in one’s birth canal is in balance is of primary importance. A mother with imbalance in gut flora such as Candida Overgrowth may pass this on to her infant.

Preparing for birth should include:

• avoiding media and medical messages of woman’s ineptitude
• consuming a specific prenatal diet rich in essential nutrients such as Fat Soluble Vitamins, protein and cholesterol
• balancing bowel bacteria.

Most importantly, preparation for fertility and birth begins in the prenatal, infant and childhood diet of the mother. All ancient cultures have sacred foods for fertility which include, fish eggs, high vitamin raw grass fed butter, organ meats and the fat of large mammals of the land and sea. These sacred foods prevented degeneration of the bony structures of the pelvis of all females, generation after generation. As Weston Price pointed out, facial narrowing, a symptom of deficiency in these vital foods, always accompanies narrowing of other structures, such as the pelvic opening.

About the Author...

Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).