Lamaze technique

{{Short description|Childbirth technique}} {{Redirect|Lamaze}} {{Redirect|Lamaz|a spiritual practice|Salah}}The '''Lamaze technique''', also known as the '''psychoprophylactic method''' or simply '''Lamaze''', is a childbirth education approach that emphasizes non-pharmacological pain management.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Michaels |first=Paula A. |date=2010 |title=Comrades in the Labor Room: The Lamaze Method of Childbirth Preparation and France's Cold War Home Front, 1951–1957 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-lookup/doi/10.1086/ahr.115.4.1031 |journal=The American Historical Review |language=en |volume=115 |issue=4 |pages=1031–1060 |doi=10.1086/ahr.115.4.1031}}</ref> It began as a prepared childbirth technique. As an alternative to medical intervention during childbirth, it was popularized in the 1950s by French obstetrician Fernand Lamaze and based on his observations in the Soviet Union. The goal of Lamaze is to build a mother's confidence in her ability to give birth, through classes that help pregnant women understand how to cope with pain in ways that both facilitate labor and promote comfort, including relaxation techniques, movement, and massage.<ref name="MayoClinic">{{Cite web |date=2019-04-29 |title=Childbirth education: Get ready for labor and delivery - Mayo Clinic |website=Mayo Clinic |url=https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/pregnancy/art-20044568 |access-date=2022-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429082025/https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/pregnancy/art-20044568 |archive-date=2019-04-29 }}</ref>

There is a training and certification program available to practitioners, leading to the Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE) designation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Certification Exam |url=http://www.lamazeinternational.org/CertificationExam |access-date=July 27, 2015 |website=Lamaze International Certifying Exam}}</ref>

==History== Fernand Lamaze visited the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and was influenced by birthing techniques which involved breathing and relaxation methods.<ref name=":53">{{Cite book |last=Santos |first=Gonçalo |title=Chinese Village Life Today: Building Families in an Age of Transition |date=2021 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-74738-5 |location=Seattle |pages=114}}</ref> The Lamaze method gained popularity in the United States after Marjorie Karmel wrote about her experiences in her 1959 book ''Thank You, Dr. Lamaze'', as well as Elisabeth Bing's book ''Six Practical Lessons for an Easier Childbirth'' (1960). Both Karmel and Bing would later found the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics in 1960, later renamed to Lamaze International.<ref name="Barrow2015">{{cite web |date=17 May 2015 |title=Elisabeth Bing, 'Mother of Lamaze,' Dies at 100 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/health/elisabeth-bing-mother-of-lamaze-dies-at-100.html |access-date=17 May 2015 |work=New York Times}}</ref>

==Criticism== Lamaze himself has been criticized for being over-disciplinary and anti-feminist. Natural childbirth activist Sheila Kitzinger's description of the methods he deployed while working in a Paris clinic during the 1950s expresses concern regarding "the disciplinary nature" of Lamaze's approach to childbirth. According to Kitzinger, Lamaze consistently ranked the women's performance in childbirth from "excellent" to "complete failure" on the basis of their "restlessness and screams". Those who "failed" were, he thought, "themselves responsible because they harbored doubts or had not practiced sufficiently", and "intellectual" women who "asked too many questions" were considered by Lamaze to be the most "certain to fail".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Jane Clare |title=Idealized and Industrialized Labor: Anatomy of a Feminist Controversy |journal=Hypatia |date=February 2012 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=99–117 |doi=10.1111/j.1527-2001.2011.01217.x |s2cid=145291619 }}{{open access}}</ref>

The Lamaze technique has also been criticized for being ineffective.<ref name="Michaels2014">{{Cite book |author=Paula A. Michaels |date=March 2014 |title=Lamaze: An International History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WdjQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973864-9 |pages=87–}}</ref><ref name="Wolf2011">{{Cite book |author=Jacqueline H. Wolf |date=7 January 2011 |title=Deliver Me from Pain: Anesthesia and Birth in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8dZ4pwoLSAC&pg=PA157 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-0323-6 |pages=157–}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.lamaze.org Official site of Lamaze International] *[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595054/ Really Teaching Lamaze: Evidence-Based Practice] *[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01409 Records of Lamaze International.] [http://radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University *[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01473 Audiotape Collection of Lamaze International.] [http://radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University *[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01437 Moving Image Collection of Lamaze International.] [http://radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamaze Technique}} Category:Childbirth Category:Natural childbirth