Birthing By Heart

Grantley Dick Read, is regarded by many as the father of “modern natural childbirth” meaning that he instigated the movement away from the rigid obstetric model of childbirth in place at the time (early 1900s)

Dick-Read believed that women were capable of naturally birthing their babies, and that the interventions of the “modern” obstetrical system were what hindered birth, and resulted in less than desirable outcomes for mother and baby.

Dick-Read was ridiculed for his methodologies, and it wasn’t until much later that his work and books became childbirth “bibles”

Dick-Read’s approach was to educate the mother on the process of childbirth, and encourage her to participate actively. He believed in fathers being present at the birth, and the rooming in of mother and baby once the baby was born.