OK let's go one by one and explain how each practice listed below overrides or bypasses natural biological timing and processes, and introduces risks that far outweigh any benefit:
1. Genetic Screening is routinely offered in both pregnancy and after birth, despite the fact that it often produces high false positives, rarely offers actionable solutions, and frequently causes unnecessary stress, invasive testing, or even termination - despite the fact that most of the “conditions” detected either don’t develop or have no effective treatment anyway.
2. Routine Ultrasounds are heavily overused in low-risk pregnancies, often leading to false diagnoses and unnecessary interventions like induction or cesarean, despite the fact that there's no solid evidence they improve outcomes and some evidence suggests excessive exposure may disrupt fetal brain development due to the heat and vibration they produce.
3. Induced Labor using Pitocin or artificial rupture of membranes forces the body into labor before it's hormonally or energetically ready, which leads to unnaturally strong contractions, less oxygen for the baby, increased fetal distress, and a much higher chance of needing a C-section.
4. Epidurals are marketed as harmless pain relief, but they often slow labor, increase the need for synthetic hormones to keep things moving, raise the risk of fever and infection, and interfere with bonding and early breastfeeding - while also disconnecting the mother from the embodied experience of birth.
5. Cesarean Section, are vastly overperformed and come with a long list of long-term consequences including infant respiratory issues, disrupted microbiome development, higher risks of chronic disease, and increased complications in future pregnancies - all for a birth method that bypasses the entire natural activation sequence of vaginal birth.
6. Immediate Cord Clamping is still the norm in many hospitals even though it deprives the baby of up to 40% of their total blood volume, cuts off a critical transfer of stem cells and iron, and increases the risk of anemia and developmental delays, all to save a few minutes of convenience.
7. Routine Suctioning of the baby’s nose and mouth is an outdated practice that can cause physical trauma and unnecessary stress, even though babies are designed to clear fluid naturally through the birth canal and their first few breaths, and the WHO has made it clear it shouldn’t be done unless absolutely necessary.
8. Immediate Newborn Assessment often involves taking the baby away within minutes of birth for weighing, injections, and cleaning, even though that early separation disrupts oxytocin release, interferes with bonding and breastfeeding, stresses the baby’s nervous system, and could easily be delayed without harm.
9. Erythromycin Eye Ointment is used despite being an extremely outdated blanket treatment for an extremely rare issue - it’s supposed to prevent blindness from gonorrhea, but unless the baby was born vaginally to a mother with active gonorrhea, it does nothing but blur the baby’s vision and interfere with bonding and latching during the most important hour of life.
10. Early Newborn Bathing strips the baby of their protective vernix, disrupts temperature regulation, and washes away their initial skin microbiome - all for a hospital photo op, when waiting just 24 to 48 hours would allow for better immune protection, skin health, and energetic adjustment to the outside world.
11. The Hepatitis B Vaccine is injected into all newborns regardless of their actual risk, even though transmission is virtually impossible from a Hep B-negative mother, and the vaccine contains aluminum adjuvants and DNA technology that have never been studied long-term in infants.
12. Vitamin K Injections are given at a dose nearly 100x greater than what naturally occurs and contains preservatives like benzyl alcohol and polysorbate 80. Considering Vitamin K is produced by the microbiota of the gut and is not bio available or beneficial to muscles cells, there's absolutely no reason this shouldn't be taken orally.
13. Delayed Breastfeeding and Formula Supplementation sabotage one of the most important moments in a newborn’s life by disrupting latching, gut microbiome development, and maternal milk production, despite the fact that breastfeeding in the first hour is key for immunity, regulation, and long-term success.
Fetal monitoring during labor might seem like an absolute necessity to ensure newborn safety, but one study of 70,000 pregnancies found no difference in outcome between monitored and unmonitored patients, and other studies have shown that monitoring results in an increase in infant mortality among the patients monitored. This suggests that, at best, monitoring does no good, and at worst it may do harm.
Bucher H C, Schmidt J G.
Barbara L Leighton
Judith S Mercer
✉Corresponding author.
Jeannette T Crenshaw
Susannah Franco
L S Franck
✉ Kunjal Luhadia kjdoc7gmail.com ✉Corresponding author.
J Golding
A Prentice
Discussion