Customer Reviews

New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
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I got this out at my library when pregnant with my second child and i thought it was so good and wanted to keep it that i bought it from here.
Although i had a 'normal' birth with my first child, for me it was not a positive experience that i hoped for. I had not prepared myself beforehand and did not expect to not be able to cope with the pain. I belive it was my fear and the drugs i was given that made it worse. Second time around i knew i wanted it to be different. I found out about Janet Balaskas and the Active Birth Centre when looking into natural childbirth. This book is excellent, it gives you the facts on everything to with childbirth and makes you realise that us women are made to give birth - naturally. It emphasises the fact that its being active in labour and birth that is important even if intervention is needed. It gave me the confidence to listen to my body and go with it, using my mind to cope with labour. I truly believe that this book helped me achieve the birth i wanted. I had my daughter at home (not planned) with no drugs for pain relief. It was an amazingly positive experience and i feel privileged to have had that. I would recommend this book to all mums-to-be and those having more children too!

My reading of New Active Birth totally influenced my approach to the birth of my daughter in September 1999. It gave me the confidence to give birth in the way I wanted to knowing that I was doing the right thing even though it went against convention. I found this book readable and concise with excellent reseach. Without it I'm certain that my experience of giving birth would have been much less pleasurable.

Janet balaskas helps the pregnant woman to understand how movement and natural birthing positions such as squatting helps us to cope with birth and help avoid intervention. Uses yoga based excercises to help you through pregnancy and birth, and postnatally. Covers homebirth, hospital birth,and topics such as breastfeeding with photos. I am finding it extremely useful and would recommend it whole heartedly along with Sheila kitzingers new pregnancy and childbirth.

I have had this book for years and it has been a great help for the birth of 3 of my children. I was able to have them without epidural thanks to their advice on coping with the pain. I only wished I had it for my first baby!
Pictures are quite realistic and dads look like they come straight out of a Hippie camp but it doesn't matter. The content is so useful.

Well worth reading. I'm awaiting my second child and felt this book filled in many gaps in my knowledge about the birth process. However the main positive element of this book is it's ability to empower and motivate couples to feel in control during the birth. The book does feel dated (all though still relevant) and I think it is one sided and should be read alongside other information about less straight forward births. Good luck with your births!

A very informative, interesting, useful and concise book on giving birth actively. Every pregnant woman should read it. It has instilled me with greater confidence in my own body. I hope to give birth using all the knowledge I have gained from reading this book over and over again.

I liked the book. It helped me to understand the different stages of labor. It is also very useful for your partner as he can understand better his role.
Very good if you want to do some exercises to prepare you for labor.
It doesnt make you feel scared at all.

I 100% recomend it.

I will also recomend you to buy Michel Odent book Birth REborn, lovely book, its like telling you a story, very uplifting.

I found this book very easy to read and informative. I didn't get it until in my final trimester but I would reccomend also buying it earlier. If you are interested in using natural postures to encourage an easier birth I would definately recommend it as it is full of practical suggestions. The biggest thing I have gained from it is that I should be confident in my own body to do what it's made to do - fingers crossed it works!!

Generally I am really please with the book and have found it really great!!

My only critisism is that I wish they had updated the later sections though as they haven't done so for some time and it doesn't mention the more modern options of birthing centres etc which offer you what this book says they should - which you would have thought they would be pleased about!!

This is a great book and has given me a lot of confidence building up to the birth of my first baby.

I bought this on recommendation.
It's a little bit dated, but the theory still applies.
I found it quite insightful and I enjoyed reading it.
I will definitely be trying all of the birthing positions suggested and will try my best to keep things natural
for my birth in a few weeks.
I feel more confident for reading this.