Hubbard stated that the delivery room should be as silent as possible during birth.[17] This stems from his belief that birth is a trauma that may induce engrams into the baby. Hubbard asserted that words in particular should be avoided because any words used during birth might be reassociated by an adult later on in life with their earlier traumatic birth experience. Hubbard also wrote that the mother should use "as little anaesthetic as possible". According to Hubbard, babies should not be bathed after birth.
Hubbard also wrote that breastfeeding should be avoided. Hubbard compared replacement formulas circa the mid-1950s, which he described as "mixed milk powder, glucose and water, total carbohydrate", with what he considered the "skim breast milk from ... overworked mother[s]" that "smoke and sometimes drink"; as an alternative to commercial products, Hubbard offered what he called the "Barley Formula", made from barley water, homogenized milk, and corn syrup or honey. Hubbard claims that "I picked it up in Roman days."[18] He crafted the barley formula to, in his words, provide "a heavy percentage of protein".[19]