Do We Need Midwives?

"What is the future of the human capacity to give birth? What is the future of underused physiological functions? Should we expect an evolution of Homo sapiens in relation to the way babies are born? Can fast-developing scientific disciplines induce a new awareness? In this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the future of birth, renowned obstetrician Michel Odent takes the question 'Do we need midwives?' as a starting point. If a paradigm shift occurs, what kind of midwives shall we need? For how long can we go on neutralizing the laws of natural selection? Are human beings able to raise vital questions before it is too late? Unprecedented situations should first and foremost inspire appropriate questions."--Publisher description 1 A ludicrous question 2 A sensible question Pre-midwifery societies Biased knowledge The specifically human handicap 3 A useless question Towards a new understanding of normality Preliminary signs of a new normality Pre-labour versus in-labour caesareans What if...? 4 primalhealthresearch.com versus NIH From knowledge to awareness A useful tool Concordant results Genesis of non-communicable diseases Enlarging our horizon Limits to primal health research 5 The driving force Epigenetics Informational substances and their receptors Evolutionary biology Twenty-first-century bacteriology 6 Bridges between scientific perspectives Autism Obesity Interdisciplinarity 7 Meanwhile Timing of the operation Immediate skin-to-skin contact Entering the world of microbes Ironies 8 Homo Ludens from a primal health research perspective From Plato to Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg The primal health research perspective 9 At the edge of the precipice A twentieth-century scientific discovery Immediate practical implications A transitory phase of our history? 10 The gaps between science and tradition Countless examples An unexpected way to learn about the crucial divergence Another basic physiological concept The still dominant paradigm 11 In pain thou shalt bring forth children 12 Will the symbiotic revolution take place? ‘Symbiosis’ as the antithesis of ‘Domination’ Reinventing Fire... and Birth Flirting with utopia 13 What is the sex of angels? Lesson from an analogy After the paradigm shift Addendum (To be read after July 2030): Can humanity survive medicine? A premature question Neutralised laws of natural selection A vicious circle Genetically modified human beings Different orders of magnitude References Index A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the future of birth by renowned obstetrician Michel Odent who takes the question ‘Do we need midwives?’ as a starting point.