Michel Odent Quotes

#1. If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.

Michel Odent

#2. I usually claim that pregnant women should not read books about pregnancy and birth. Their time is too precious. They should, rather, watch the moon and sing to their baby in the womb.

Michel Odent

#3. Experiences have clearly shown that an approach which 'de-medicalizes' birth, restores dignity and humanity to the process of childbirth, and returns control to the mother is also the safest approach.

Michel Odent

#4. The only significant effect of continuous electronic fetal monitoring was an increase in the cesarean rate.

Michel Odent

#5. One cannot actively help a woman to give birth. The goal is to avoid disturbing her unnecsessarily.

Michel Odent

#6. People never sing ... except in the bathroom. Birthing women also make their natural sounds next to running bath water. There is something about the power of water. People are drawn to water, spas, and sacred streams. Women in labor are drawn to water, too.

Michel Odent

#7. We try to give a birthing woman freedom to find the right position for her own needs and comfort. Unfortunately, in our society we think of birthing as something done while lying down.

Michel Odent

#8. So many words commonly used to describe childbirth-support, patient, management, delivered by, coached, helped, guided-suggest that a woman does not have the power to give birth without being dependent on somebody else. This isn't the case at all.

Michel Odent

#9. To change the world, we must first change the way the babies are being born,

Michel Odent

#10. According to traditional wisdom in rural France, a baby in the womb should be compared to fruit on the tree. Not all the fruit on the same tree is ripe at the same time ... we must accept that some babies need a much longer time than others before they are ready to be born.

Michel Odent

#11. It seems that many health professionals involved in antenatal care have not realized that one of their role should be to protect the emotional state of pregnant women

Michel Odent

#12. iron inhibits the absorption of important growth factors such as zinc. Furthermore, iron is an oxidative substance that can exacerbate the production of free radicals and might even increase the risk of pre-eclampsia.9

Michel Odent