Birth Agni
This Podcast explores how indigenously Birth has always unfolded, among women - our tribe, where children could see how breastfeeding was done and how birth happened. This an attempt to fetch the stories of the past as well as bring out the new India’s Birth culture to expose the defining features in both. This shall join the dots to where the increasing problems of postpartum anxiety, rising rate of surgical births and poor breastfeeding outcomes are coming from.
Birth Agni - Agni meaning Fire, the Fire that brings us alive, transforms us and has the ability to burn. Birth is designed to affect a woman’s integrity. It is the fire of awakening that makes her life experience wholesome. Deep down her body knows what Birth is supposed to feel - a euphoria of bringing a new life on Earth. The cocktail of hormones are designed to give her a high.
However, birth today has quickly swayed away from a phase of joy to the one marked by Fear, the constant questioning of a woman’s capacity to Birth naturally and the ugly calculation of the odds of a healthy baby at the expense of the mother’s health. We forget that their health is interlinked and flourish as a dyad. In India, the urban rate of Cesarean Sections on an average until 2020 is a whopping 40% which is concerning.
Birth is linked to Patriarchy, Healthcare Politics and Women’s Rights. Respect in Birth is long due to women and it affects the core of who they are.
Join me Divya Kapoor, a Certified Birth and Lactation Counselor and aspiring Traditional Birth Attendant in the quest to shine light on what we can do as parents and a community to change the narrative.
Birth Agni
#116 - Language around Birth and Breastfeeding with Effath Yasmin
" I wonder Divya, if women today can escape a pill........a vaccine.......or being under the knife." - Effath Yasmin
Calling this a reality of today's maternal healthcare system is not enough to point out the issues that need dire resolution because the problems are far more complex than 'one' solution being right and everything else, wrong.
The issue is of the belief systems fuelled by years of medical marketing, cultural hearsay, shifting away from our traditional systems completely in the name of advancement without paying heed to the resulting loss.
In this episode as we explore The language around Birth especially in the media pertaining to Home Births, we also speak about the collective 'discouraging' language around the whole spectrum of 'Womanhood', Birth and Breastfeeding with Effath Yasmin ma'am who is a pioneering Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, and registered Flower Practitioner. Founder Nourish & Nurture, a family wellness clinic in Mumbai, Yasmin’s unique & deep insightful wisdom on Birth, Breastfeeding, Parenting, Life Coaching & Skills, and Childhood Trauma have established her as a leading voice in Woman, Maternal & Family Wellness.
An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Yasmin’s acclaimed film “Untying Breastfeeding” has garnered four international awards, highlighting the challenges in birth and motherfeeding. Yasmin also cofounded an international organisation for clinical education on tongue-tie for healthcare professionals and advocating for family-centered care in breastfeeding and maternal health worldwide.
Explored Areas in this episode:
Problems in the present Maternal Medical System
1. Language around Home Births in Media vs coverage of the hospital births
2. Misplaced initiative of the complete industrialisation of Birth
3. Unclear demarcation of the role of medical system in Birth
Possible solutions:
1. Re-establishing the midwifery system by absorption of existing Dais and upscaling current system.
2. The responsibility of fair and curious journalism that does not sensationalise Birth.
3. An integrated system th
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