Childbirth Education
ALACE - Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators
Length of course: Traditionally 7 weeks
but may vary.
ALACE was founded by Rahima Baldwin as Informed Homebirth/Informed Birth and Parenting; prepares parents for birth at
home, hospital, or birth center. They advertise their approach to childbirth education as “holistic” and incorporate psychological
as well as physical education in classes. ALACE teaches “coping tools to work with pain and discomfort” as opposed to techniques
to avoid feeling the pain. ALACE’s philosophy is that birth is a “woman-centered and woman-directed passage, not an institution-centered
medical event.” ALACE emphasizes informed consent, and while they also emphasize prevention of intervention, their website states
they “respect obstetric procedures as beneficial in some circumstances but potentially detrimental when applied routinely.” ALACE teaches natural childbirth with no patterned breathing and the utmost of parental control designed to teach parents to assert
themselves to birth with “dignity, in safety, support, and confidence.”
Birth Works®
Length of course: Traditionally 10
weeks, but may vary.
BirthWorks is not a method of childbirth like Lamaze or Bradley. It is a series of classes intended to help
the parents decide for themselves what they want in birth, not that there is any one “right” way to give birth, natural or drugged
and induced. In this sense, it more closely resembles prepared childbirth than strictly focusing on natural childbirth. BirthWorks supports birth wherever the mom feels safest and most secure, and that the parents should “participate in decisions” regarding
interventions. This statement seems to indicate that the obstetric caregiver is the authority, while the parents are merely
participants—not the directors—in the birth. This is in contrast to ALACE’s belief that intervention should be prevented period. I believe the one thing that sets Birth Works apart from the rest is its emphasis on healing, learning about your own body experientially,
and their focus on the woman’s feelings versus the mechanics of birth.
Bradley Method® ß Northeast Kansas Homebirth Service
recommended
Length of course: Traditionally 12 weeks but may vary, with a minimum of 8 weeks.
Bradley emphasizes totally natural
childbirth with active participation of the husband as mom’s labor coach. Bradley was one of the first childbirth education
organizations to focus on excellent nutrition as the most direct path to having natural childbirth, including prevention of all interventions
to stop the possibility of the cascade toward cesarean that happens so commonly. Bradley teaches by far the longest series of
childbirth education classes, with relaxation, natural breathing from the stomach instead of the chest, and actually “tuning in” to
your body and the sensations happening in childbirth instead of looking for ways to avoid or ignore the pain. The classes are
designed to help parents take the primary responsibility for the birth and the obstetric decisions that are made. Bradley instructors
teach that it is the parents who are ultimately responsible for either what goes right, or what goes wrong. They also teach
that parents should make whatever effort is necessary to obtain natural childbirth, even if it means seeking a non-traditional accoucher
or driving a long distance to a more favorable birthplace. Amber Walla is Northeast Kansas Homebirth Service’s midwifery assistant,
student midwife, and highly-recommended certified Bradley instructor and doula.
ICEA - International Childbirth Education Association
Length
of course: Varies by instructor.
ICEA is far from a natural childbirth education course, or even a prepared childbirth education
course. ICEA bills itself as focusing on obtaining “family-centered reproductive care” with its goal to obtain the “best possible
health outcome.” It states it is “an attitude rather than a protocol.” It does seem to have some information that birth
is not a medical procedure, but a “vital life event.” ICEA instructors strive to provide all the information which may influence
a mom’s decision, and that “she be guided by professionals she has chosen to share the responsibility for her care.” This is
in great difference to Bradley and ALACE which emphasize that the mother is the one who is taking the responsibility, and it is ultimately
hers. In other childbirth education courses, the parents are the ones guiding the decision-making, not the obstetric caregiver. However ICEA does not have a prescribed lesson plan for classes. They merely certify that an educator has the “necessary knowledge
and experience to enable them to facilitate expectant parents’ mental and physical preparation for pregnancy, labor, birth, and parenthood.” Their website does not reference natural childbirth, merely family-centered maternity care. The word “responsibility” seemed
to refer to a parent’s requirement to be responsible to their child as that child’s parent, instead of being responsible specifically
for the decisions made in birth. As there is no prescribed curriculum, there are no statements on breathing techniques or handling
pain. No discussion of birth place is made, and there are no references to homebirth or birth centers.
Length
of course: Varies by instructor.
Lamaze’s philosophy of birth is that it is normal, natural, and healthy, and they support the
fact that birth can take place safely at home. Lamaze believes that “women have the right to give birth free from routine medical
interventions.” Classes include comfort measures such as massage, relaxation, hydrotherapy, the use of heat, cold and pressure. There is one class on “guidance for the pregnant woman to make informed decisions about anesthesia and medical procedures.” A listing of “myths about Lamaze” on their website states that “Lamaze childbirth means you can’t have an epidural.” Lamaze
teaches “focused breathing” techniques as one choice in coping strategies.
