The First Hour Following Birth: Don’t Wake the Mother! by Michel
Odent © 2002 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.
[Editor's note: This article first appeared in Midwifery Today
Issue 61, Spring 2002.] The hour following birth is undoubtedly
one of the most critical phases in the life of human beings. It
is not by chance that all human groups have routinely disturbed
the physiological processes in this short period of time, via
beliefs and rituals. Our cultural milieus are to a great extent
shaped at the very beginning of the mother-newborn interaction.
The first hour following birth may be looked at from a multitude
of complementary perspectives. My objective is to catalogue 12
such perspectives to demonstrate the real dimension of this
enormous subject. Perspective 1: The sudden need to breathe We
do not need to develop this widely documented perspective. It is
well understood that during the first hour following birth the
baby must suddenly use its lungs. This implies, in particular,
that the heart m