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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

Anyone tried the Gentle Birth Method? Particularly the diet for pg??

42 replies

KeepingQuiet · 09/08/2006 19:39

Anyone tried the Gentle Birth Method? Particularly the diet for pg??

The book suggests ditching sugar, most carbs, wheat and restricting fruit
Is this achievable?

OP posts:

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SenoraPostrophe · 09/08/2006 19:40

what is ditching carbs supposed to acheive then?

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MrsBadger · 09/08/2006 19:45

apparently it 'congests your pelvis'

I read a thread on this ages ago and went and looked at the website. TBH it sounded unachievable when combined with normal life, and it set all my sceptic bells ringing, especially when it suggested that honey 'becomes toxic when heated'.

Previous thread here

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SimonBolivarCusack · 09/08/2006 19:49

oh god there's no way I could do pregnancy without carbs

a calm birth sounds great but it's not guaranteed, and I would be beyond gutted if I deprived myself of carbs and ended up without a perfect birth - too much to live up to frankly. and 'congesting your pelvis' sounds like a load of bunkum.

full credit to anyone who manages it all but personally I'd need to pay a couple of large burly minders to man the fridge, local shops/restaurants, and takeaway menus. Obviously you don't want to eat a load of refined stuff if at all possible, but for some people it's just too bloody hard. (Am personally doing much better this time compared to last time, but I think that's luck rather than my efforts!)

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SenoraPostrophe · 09/08/2006 19:51

lol! I thought it might be one of those.

yes, not worth the misery of giving up carbs and fruit imo even if the birth really is "gentle". childbirth is a doddle anyway.

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SenoraPostrophe · 09/08/2006 19:51

mmm refined stuff

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angelclare · 09/08/2006 20:48

I had a friend who did it. She had a fantastically neat bump and a drug free labour. She did seem a bit hungry tho, especially when she saw me tucking into apple crumble and ice cream. Sadly I don't have the self-control.

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SimonBolivarCusack · 09/08/2006 20:51

I love that - 'she did seem a bit hungry though'

mmmmmm apple crumble
oh I want some NOW!

and the drug-free labour - yes that's all very lovely and very important to some people - but can people tell that you did that afterwards unless you blurt it out? childbirth is NOT a competition (she says sternly)

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angelclare · 09/08/2006 21:00

I meant the drug free labour bit as in she seemed to have found it very do-able, although thinking about it this may have had nothing to do with the diet.

Her baby was lighter than average too, but isn't that what they promise in the Gentle Birth Method book - a lighter baby?

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SimonBolivarCusack · 09/08/2006 21:02

yes that's right - a lighter baby presumably becuase you don't eat as much as you could

however, I though Gwyneth P did the Gentle Birth thing - her first was 9lbs 10oz or something so it's obviously not guaranteed!

oh I'd love a nice gentle birth but I just can't face the food, and I'm sure it appeals to lots of people more for the small bump/weight gain than for anything else.

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cye · 09/08/2006 21:06

i accidently had a session with a gentle birth practitioner. she gave me a massge, told me to give up wheat for an easy birth and told me to breath out of my vagina. she said if i did this i could just 'breath' the baby out.
i didn't got back...

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hester · 09/08/2006 21:11

My midwife was really into it and I tried, really I tried - for about eight minutes

Honestly, any diet that forbids eating grapes and mango because they're too high in sugar is not for me (I guess that rules out multipacks of crunchies, then?). And then there was the rest of the regime - endless yoga, massage and complementary therapies. I didn't have the time or money to do it properly - it would be a full-tiime job and need Gwyneth Paltrow's bank balance.

So my poor pelvis got well congested, I got a big fat bump, and ended up with an emergency caesarean.

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angelclare · 09/08/2006 21:23

Didn't Gwyneth have a elective c-section in NY for her second though? Maybe being so good for the first was too exhausting.

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angelclare · 09/08/2006 21:25

PS Did she demonstrate HOW to breathe out of your vagina?

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foxinsocks · 09/08/2006 21:27

I'd be v sceptical about diets etc.

I ate like a pig during both my pregnancies - totally craved veg spring rolls and bacon and cheese toasted sandwiches (and mastered the art of making coffee cakes) and put on LOADS of weight but had 2 pretty fab drug free births so I'm not sure how much of an impact diet really has (although obviously if you have a hideously unhealthy diet then it's probably worth doing something about it!).

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KeepingQuiet · 09/08/2006 22:02

I do fancy the idea of not putting on heaps of weight but can't work out what I would eat

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NotQuiteLouisRiel · 09/08/2006 22:07

PMSL at "congested pelvis". How on earth is that meant to work?

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KeepingQuiet · 09/08/2006 22:11

Celebrity followers are apparently: SADIE FROST, ELLE MACPHERSON, LADY HELEN TAYLOR, DONNA AIR, GWYNETH PALTROW & possibly Kate Moss?

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TuttiFrutti · 10/08/2006 17:36

Angelclare, you're right about Gwyneth Paltrow - she followed Gentle Birth Method for her first, but had such a grim time with a 70 hour labour that she booked an elective C-section for the second. I guess it doesn't work for everyone.

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SenoraPostrophe · 10/08/2006 17:41

I always think you should listen to your body in pregnancy.

My body currently has quite a serious fizzy pop deficiency, for example.

and can I just say 70 hour labour . I hope Gwynny got her money back and/or punched the gentle birth chap in the face. I assume it was a chap.

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GaribaldiCusack · 10/08/2006 17:42

you see??

all that hassle and a 9lb 10oz baby and 70 hour labour. I'd be ROPABLE

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merrily · 10/08/2006 17:51

I know someone who did this - had a lovely neat bump, 6 hour labour, no drugs, water-birth, the works. Her baby was quite small, although he is still small for his age so maybe that's just genetics? I think most of it is unachievable though if you don't have lots of money and time on your hands.

Dr Gowri Motha is a woman - although she is another one of these experts who has no children of her own...

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roberj · 11/08/2006 14:32

I tried to follow this with my first - took all the tablets, did the yoga and reflexology - and have to admit i did have a short (7 hour) and relatively easy birth. DD1 was 8 pounds 10 though so not that small! Am pregnant again now and finding it REALLY hard to stick to the diet. Like any diet it just makes you think about he food you aren't allowed all the time and i dont think i want to be miserable for the next 7 months.

If you do have the time and money going for some of the treatments is relaxing and gives you a chance to have some time on your own with your feet up (quite the rairity). I only go fr reflexology because of the lack of time / money but have found that it can really help with constipation if not tmi! x

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KeepingQuiet · 11/08/2006 15:34

Finally someone who's tried this...

roberj - what is your typical day of food (ideally)?

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roberj · 14/08/2006 12:50

Sorry about delay in getting back to you keepingquiet - haven't been on the computer over the weekend!

Ok so ideally (and believe me i dont always get near this) for breakfast i have porrige with berries or wheat free cereal (corn flakes / rice krispies) and then a snack mid morning of fruit or oatcakes. For lunch i try to have salad with chicken or salmon and i usually have crudities with hummous in the afternoon. for dinner i have something like shepherds pie, wheat free pasta and sauce or meatballs, chicken and veg, something like that.

I'm feeling really sick at the moment tho so its hard because all you feel like sometimes is white buttered toast (or is that just me??) but i just let myself have it because i think its unrealisitic to completely change your diet overnight and i think that even if you just cut down on all the things she suggests then that is an improvement.

I do take all the pills tho which can get expensive and the teas which are disgusting. Who knows it may all be a big con but i didnt get too big with the last one and found the birth ok so i'm giving it a go again. Good luck if you are going to try it and if you want to ask me anything else then i'd be happy to help. x

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carrotcake · 19/08/2006 09:59

I was given this book by a friend recently and the diet was the thing I thought I could probably (try to) manage. I generally don't eat wheat anyway because of IBS, and try not to eat sugar for the same reason (except cakes!), but it was the rest of it that seemed hard to keep up, particularly all the treatments and the herbs/pills. This is my third pregnancy and it's pretty ingrained in me that you don't take raspberry leaf tea until the end, but this tells you to drink it (along with false unicorn, cramp bark and squaw vine leaves) from week 13, as well as another Bala? herb drink and herbal 'baby pills'. I would definitely try this if it works and is safe after two hideous labours, one emergenncy c-section, and a 3-4 stone weight gain both times. I guess they wouldn't give the tea if it wasn't a safe amount, what does anyone else think?