Primal Health
Understanding the critical period between conception and birth
Michel Odent
Essay by Caitlyn Mitchell
Primal Health has amazing information about the first year of life. This period holds a lot of weight as it can affect health in adulthood. So much happens from conception to the first birthday. Stimulants start in the mother's womb and continue to develop for about a year. I learned about how music and vibrations can have a healing effect on the body. I love learning about how music can help the brain develop. During pregnancy, mothers provide stimulation to the growing baby with daily tasks and interactions with the world. In cases such as bed rest mothers have less chance for the baby to get the needed developmental stimulation.
Science is always developing, and not all healing can be done by doctors. Energy healing can also be essential for survival. The body holds energy, negative and positive. Some people work with meditation or energy work. Getting enough sleep postpartum is needed to heal. Allowing friends or family to hold your new baby while you shower, eat, or sleep can be so helpful. People around you do really want to help, taking care of yourself helps the baby more than anything. The pull humans have on water is very interesting, I feel like it has something to do with the energy of the water. There is a healing aspect of the calm water and soft sounds. A nice shower can be the best rest. I like that throughout my career I will still need to keep up with information on birth studies. To always be listening and learning is a key to doula work.
Part of chapter 7 “The Gardener” is about food, and how food is not just essential to life but socially food is very important in bringing people together. I completely think this is true. Food is the glue that holds time together. Sharing a meal can be great for sharing information and connecting with another person. Which is essential for a family and relationships. I completely agree with this observation. Food is the center of many gatherings bringing people together. While new mothers take care of the baby’s needs, they tend to ignore their own. Having meals prepped in the freezer before birth or having a few family members bring you meals on a schedule that works for you. It really does take a village, it is okay to accept help and rest.
I think I could incorporate lots of things in this book into my work. I like around page 158 where it takes some of the fear out of co-sleeping. I don't like that some mothers who could co-sleep have been scared by all the media in America. I have learned now that breastfeeding mothers will be connected with their babies and not be in as deep of a sleep to roll onto the baby. It also helps with the aspects of breastfeeding because the mother doesn't have to get up at night to feed. There are positives and negatives for co-sleep. It should never be done if formula feeding. The hormones produced by breastfeeding helps the mom sleep a little lighter so if the baby stirs in bed or makes distress sounds they’ll wake up. Formula also causes a heavy sleep for the baby, this might mean they wouldn’t wake enough to coo/cry reminding you they are there. There is no judgement in this choice. Do what makes you comfortable.
This book is informative and gives amazing aspects of the primal period of life. There is so much here that helps keep parents informed of the Primal period. It has key information without the fear factor some parenting books have. It has many good perspectives on the Primal period such as preterm infants in the NICU incubators vs Kanga carriers. Understanding the first year of life and how that effects adulthood is helpful when making choices for your family.
