The more I read about Miranda Kerr, the more I like her.
Last year, the 29 year old supermodel from Australia who is married to actor Orlando Bloom refused to cave in to pressure from the anti-saturated fat lobby by publicly professing her love of coconut oil with the following statement:
“I will not go a day without coconut oil. I personally take four tablespoons per day, either on my salads, in my cooking or in my cups of green tea.”
Mmmmm, let’s see. Shall we listen to fat, unhealthy looking doctors with expensive vacation homes and yacht payments telling us to avoid coconut oil because it will give us a heart attack who are incidentally getting kickbacks or special perks from drug companies on the amount of cholesterol lowering prescriptions they write, or …
Shall we listen to a woman who is sharing her secret for shiny hair, trim figure, and clear skin which has been used by attractive, healthy Polynesians for centuries who suffered virtually no heart disease whatsoever?
Kerr: Epidurals Result in Drugged Babies
Now, Ms. Kerr has once again stirred up a hornet’s nest with her comments about the dangers of epidurals published as part of her interview in the August 2012 issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK.
Miranda states that she decided to forgo an epidural with the recent birth of her son after observing in baby bonding videos that babies born to mothers who had epidurals did not instinctively go for the breast and appeared out of it and “drugged” unlike babies born to mothers who had not submitted to pain medication who went straight for the breast and were alert and looking around:
“The baby was a little bit drugged up, and I was like, ‘Well I don’t want that.’ I wanted to give him the best possible start in life I could.”
Dr. Deborah Stein, who practices obstetric anethesiology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York, fired back by insisting that there “is no concern of epidural anesthesia on a newborn baby.”
Yeah right, doc. A little concerned about those yacht payments are we?
Mother and parenting forums also blasted Kerr saying that she should more carefully choose her words. Mary Fischer who writes for TheStir said that “women just need to respect each other.”
Give me a break. Isn’t the health of babies a lot more important than, sniff, mommy’s feelings (does anyone have a hankie?).
The reality of the situation is that epidural babies are drugged and if a woman can possibly avoid these medications (of course, sometimes she cannot), it is indeed giving her baby a better start in life. At the very least, a natural birth gives baby and Mom a better shot at a successful breastfeeding relationship with a normal latch and suckle more likely from the start.
Good for you, Miranda, for sticking to your guns and showing once again that a supermodel isn’t necessarily just a pretty face and can be a force to be reckoned with in this age of false and misleading health propaganda from those who are supposed to “know” the most!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Miranda Kerr’s Anti-Epidural Comments Incite Backlash
I had an epidural with all three of my children. The first two were induced and my third came on his own (my water broke). I was hoping to go natural with my last one but the pain was just as bad as when I had the inductions. I am very grateful that I had the epidural and I would not look down upon women who choose to get one. I also did not notice my babies as being drugged up either.
I tried really hard to go epidural free with my first birth! It was on my list of “stuff to avoid”. However, once I’d been in labour a long time and I wasn’t progressing… my obstetrician told me she’d like to give me one as she was thinking we might need a c-section. Honestly, at that point I was in too much pain and I just went along with it! Later I had the C-section… and it’s probably true it wasn’t as good for my baby as natural delivery would have been, but it just wasn’t happening.
Two other c-sections down the track… none of my babies were born drug free! It’s not ideal, but it happens… my kids are now all pretty healthy and happy (not perfect, but we’re working on that :D).
I also want to add that while I agree that it’s best to be drug free… not all women seem to sail through labour as easily as others! I know my SIL just walked around and was fine during her short labours. Me, on the other hand, was in agony and couldn’t even walk around. As soon as I had a contraction I just crumpled to the floor. I had no idea it would be sooooo darn agonizing, and yet I’ve heard from other women that it isn’t THAT bad. I don’t think I’m a complete pain wuss either. I honestly wasn’t prepared for how painful labour was. At the end I really WAS glad for the epidural just for a break! If my labour had progressed at the “expected” rate, I’d have given birth well before then, but it just didn’t.
From my experience, I don’t judge women no matter how they choose to have their babies. I don’t like the idea of c-sections for the sake of convenience… but whether a woman needs one or not, or whether she chooses an epidural or not, I just don’t judge.
I’m sorry that your first birth didn’t go like you had hoped.
A few weeks ago I had a friend in labor who opted for an epidural. I couldn’t be there so I sent one of her friends and I was doula-ing through her, lol. Anyway, she “stalled out” at 9.5 cm for 8 HOURS. The doctor recommended a c-section after about 3 hours. Mom said that she might like the epidural to be turned down so that she could get into a different position, but the nurse and doctor kept telling her “no, it wasn’t a good idea”. I’m fairly certain that they didn’t want to because they assumed that she’d be having a c-section anyway. The parents waited and waited and the doc got stuck in surgery, and what do you know? Despite being on her back and with the epidural the baby was nearly crowning when the doctor returned and she birthed her almost 9 pound baby vaginally. I was so happy for her, but sad that she had to basically fight for what is the right of every pregnant woman- TIME to give birth. She also had all of the standard breastfeeding difficulties that are so common with hospital births.
I would respect your blog a lot more if it were not for such condescending undertones. I went natural for my baby but would not belittle women for having an epidural. I believe in empowering women through encouragement, not trying to make them feel bad. I think this is the last time I bother with your blog or your opinions.
My sentiments exactly Elizabeth. Thank you.
Sarah, your comments are caddy and blaming. Shame on you.
you know? i’m SO ANGRY with the way things went with my three daughters, i’m severely tempted to have another baby just to deliver it without medical interference to *prove* i can actually do it right, for once. only one of my three inductions was actually necessary – my youngest, who was in severe distress and had gone non-responsive at 39wks bec of toxemia.
my oldest was induced – probably would’ve been totally unnecessary if they’d just let me get off my back.
my second was induced because of her size – at 36wks, she was over 8lbs and at term would probably weigh betw 10 and 11lbs. the doctor didn’t even discuss it with me – he prodded around and said “ooo-wee, you got a good liddle ‘un in there! 8lbs, easy! probably more!” and when i yelped and said “and HOW MUCH is it going to weigh!??”, his only response was “wanna find out tomorrow?” and at 7am the following morning i was on a city bus headed to the hospital. i’ve since found out that while my gestational diabetes likely played a part in it, it’s more likely just genetic luck: our family runs to big babies and i’ve got hips like the broad side of a barn so probably could’ve managed a big baby with ease.
but alas – i’m 45 so the odds of a son are slim to none.
An OB at 36 or 37 weeks said that my daughter was 7 pounds by feeling her. She was born at 40 weeks 6 pounds 13 ounces. My midwife thought that my son was going to be in the 8 pound range when she felt at 37 weeks, and he was born at 41 weeks only 7 pounds, 4 ounces. I guess I make small babies, but the estimates really didn’t hold true for me!
Diet in pregnancy is everything.
One thing that people are forgetting is that if mom is MALNOURISHED in pregnancy, she is going to have a hard LONG painful labor that if not for modern medicine she and/or the child would DIE would die in childbirth. This is NOT doctors being melodramatic. The rampant malnutrition among pregnant women over the past 80 years since Dr Price did his study is showing in the amount of cesarians needed.
Natural childbirth people (like I am but now I know about nutrition) like to make it out like it’s only doctors wanting to operate. Modern malnourished mom’s generally NEED this intervention. Maternal Malnutrition is the bread and butter of OB/GYN’s. If moms had all they needed, labor would indeed be short and sweet and OB’s would be unnecessary, though for my sake I’m glad they exist.
This malnourished mom will also be later than natural in producing milk since an alive mom with no milk is better for the child’s long term survival than dead lactating mother. Her body is holding back milk to heal itself. That is if she and the baby would have survived at all without medical intervention.
It’s disgusting when at the time of crisis people make it out to be mind over matter. You can’t mind over matter kidney and liver failure due to toxemia. I did 24 hours of contractions every 90 seconds until organ failure started and another 4 hours after that. I didn’t need a doctor to tell me that if I didn’t agree to cesarian one of us was not going to come out alive, and my son would have been fine, but its better to have an alive mother. Even then no epidural because I knew the risks but ended up agreeing to a spinal for the cesarian.
Since he was only in there for less than 5 min of the spinal he was born alert and low drug if not drug free. That was my next best wish come true considering I did all of that laboring drug free for him to be alert, I also decided I wanted to be alive to enjoy raising him. Forgive me for not wanting to be cut open without anesthesia. I would have done that but why do that when you don’t have to? At some point you might have to give it up. No need to feel guilty when you did your best. All you can do is learn from your mistakes, do better next time and pass along your info so others don’t have to suffer.
It’s easy to say what you will and won’t do if you are well nourished and prepared as you should be for labor and post partum and your labor is as nature intended. Another thing when through following bad advice you are not nutritionally prepared for a natural labor.
Thank you Sarah for this blog so women can know how to eat to have a good labor and have milk come in promptly so they can have a natural childbirth and avoid awful intervention scenarios for themselves and their child.
Your comments may be hurtful to many women who have been let down by a system that is set up to victimize them and make money off of sick moms and babies. Certainly most of us here would agree with you that diet is very important, but it is only one factor. Most c-sections in the US are not a result of the mother’s poor nutrition, but a cascade of interventions that prevent normal birth from occurring, many of them starting before labor even begins (“routine” cervical checks, for example). Our culture also tends to fear birth and place the doctor in the place of the savior, which often becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Natural, easy births are possible without optimal nutrition. I know this, because with my first I had eaten mostly a low-fat diet my whole life, along with a few years of nearly being vegetarian. I also ate way too little. Fortunately for me I have still inherited my grandmother’s pelvis and my mom did breastfeed my sister and I so I had that going for me. My first labor was 5 hours, start to finish, with only about 45 minutes of really painful contractions. My milk took 4.5 days to come in but it did just fine and I nursed for 18 months. I started researching, learned about optimal nutrition, and changed my diet 180 degrees shortly before becoming pregnant with my son who is now 4 months old. 2.5 hour homebirth. The only difference I see between my daughter and son is that he is stronger than she was at this age, so it’s possible that my dietary changes have improved the quality of my milk, but my main point is that most women, even on a SAD, can birth their babies normally and feed them without supplementation. To tell them otherwise is to ignore evidence that it is doctor’s, insurance companies’, and hospital policies that have changed, not WOMEN.
sara r.: you are ABSOLUTELY correct… We have a broken birth culture in this country and it operates on fear. Women and babies are the victims of horrible paradigms and presuppositions about pregnancy and birth and what it requires. I’m sorry for your first experience, but you learned and you worked and healed and good for you for what you were able to accomplish with your son. I’ve posted an essay with my heartfelt conviction on this serious issue:
I wish all women could be empowered in this arena…to be physically healthy for their pregnancies and births, and to be emotionally healthy to do what their bodies can do.
Good for you for telling it like it is, Sarah! What has happened to free speech? The thought police really are indoctrinating people. If someone states (as Kerr did) why she chooses not to use a harmful drug, why should anyone get all up in arms about it?! Facts are facts and the medical industry at large doesn’t want the public to have them…it’s bad for business. Having your baby at home is the safest, most peaceful and most empowering option.
I agree with Orlando Blooms wife! Lol, I use this virgin coconut oil called Memory Oil AALLL the time! Memory Oil is by far my favorite, very good stuff and it’s also ridiculously cheap at only $10. Awesome! Give Memory Oils a shot!
what are your thoughts on tahitian noni juice? Kerr swears by that stuff too.
aside from the mommy thing, i want to state categorically that she is probably one of the most beautiful people i’ve seen in a while – it’s not the structure of her face, it’s that every time i see a photo of her, including the so-called “controversial” ones, there’s no “look at me, making a political statement!” expression. i have always thought that her face has a warm, open, *giving* vibe about it. stunning as she is, i would totally have no problem walking up to her and asking if she knew the time or where the nearest subway is or where i could find a book shop.
not like some of the more flagrant “philanthropists” who always look like they’re mentally keeping tabs on their karmic score.
I have been a doula at several births where the moms chose epidurals, and breastfeeding has been difficult with all of them. Even if they didn’t get much of the medication, there is the effects of the fluids that mom receives during the placement of the epidural, or the antibiotics to fight the fever that was probably caused by the epidural…The epidural + fluids seems to contribute to the plague of “flat nipples” that somehow every mom has despite thousands of years of sucessful feeding of children. Then baby looses “too much” weight, some of which is probably water weight from the fluids that mom received. Then they have to supplement because baby has lost weight from the fluids, can’t latch on because of mom’s “flat” nippes probably caused by the epidural, and has “breastfeeding jaundice” because, despite all of this, mom is trying really hard.
So…the epidural trials don’t stop at birth, that’s what I’m saying! Personally I have had two uneventful, normal births with two well-nursing babies. I am glad that I knew enough to research and do things my way, but sad that other women put too much trust in the “system” and are hurt by it.
I think the IV fluids of magnesium and salts that they give you have more to do with the water retention and flat nipples than the epidurals. I’ve been there on the extra fluid trip with weight loss of the infant. What a heart breaking farce of a bad cycle for mom. I’ve been there too.
Yes, but the fluids must be given with the epidural; that was my point. You can’t really separate the effects beause they must be given together to offset the drop in blood pressure that often happens with an epidural.