What is The Bradley Method®?
The Bradley Method® teaches natural childbirth and views birth as a natural process. It is our belief that most women with proper education, preparation, and the help of a loving and supportive coach can be taught to give birth naturally. The Bradley Method® is a system of natural labor techniques in which a woman and her coach play an active part. It is a simple method of increasing self-awareness, teaching a woman how to deal with the stress of labor by tuning in to her own body. The Bradley Method® encourages mothers to trust their bodies using natural breathing, relaxation, nutrition, exercise, and education.
How is The Bradley Method® Unique?
1. The Bradley Method® teaches couples ways to stay low risk. While occasionally there are risk factors out of your control, staying healthy and low risk can help to avoid complications. Low risk mothers have more choices.
2. Relaxation is the key to The Bradley Method® during labor. It is the safest and most effective way to reduce unnecessary pain and to handle any pain that you do experience. While other methods seek to control the sensations of labor (emphasizing distraction as their primary labor control technique), The Bradley Method® encourages mothers to trust their bodies (emphasizing relaxed abdominal breathing and relaxation throughout labor).
3. The term Bradley® is a registered trademark to ensure you are getting quality childbirth education. All Bradley® instructors are highly trained to help you learn how to give birth.
For the National Directory of Bradley® Instructors, please visit www.bradleybirth.com.
Why Natural Childbirth?
The kind of pregnancy, labor, and birth our children experience has a profound and lifelong effect on their health, including their mental, emotional, and physical health. The Bradley Method® attempts to give babies the best possible start in life by teaching how to have a natural pregnancy and a natural childbirth.
The Bradley® Method Childbirth Goals
Your Bradley® instructor wants you and your baby to have the best, safest, and most rewarding birth experience possible. For that reason, we endorse and teach the following ideals in classes:
- Natural childbirth
- Active participation of the husband or partner as coach
- Excellent nutrition, the foundation of a healthy pregnancy
- Avoidance of drugs during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding unless absolutely necessary
- Training: early birth classes followed by weekly classes starting in the 6 th month continuing until birth
- Relaxation and natural breathing
- Tuning-in to your own body
- Immediate and continuous contact with your new baby
- Breastfeeding, beginning at birth
- Consumerism and positive communications
- Parents taking responsibility for the safety of the birth place, procedures, attendants, and emergency back-up
- Parents prepared for unexpected situations such as emergency childbirth and cesarean section
Educated parents have the responsibility to make these choices themselves. They also need to seek personnel who have natural childbirth experience and who will support their choices. This may take considerable effort and sometimes requires seeking special personnel or traveling great distances to achieve the safest possible birth.
For more information about The Bradley Method® please visit: www.bradleybirth.com.
