Human Birth: An Evolutionary PerspectiveThe story of human evolution has been told hundreds of times, each time with a focus that seems most informative of the teller. No matter how it is told the primary characters are rarely mothers and infants. Darwin argued survival, but today we know that reproduction is what evolution is all about. Centering on this, Trevathan focuses on birth, which gives the study of human evolution a crucial new dimension. Unique among mammals, humans are bipedal. The evolution of bipedalism required fundamental changes in the pelvis and resulted in a narrow birth canal. Humans are also large-brained animals, which means that birth is much more challenging for our species than for most other animals. The result of this mismatch of large head and narrow pelvis is that women are highly dependent on assistance at birth and their babies are born in an unusually undeveloped state when the brain is still small. "Human Birth" discusses how the birth process has evolved and ways in which human birth differs from birth in all other mammals. "Human Birth" is also concerned with mother-infant interaction immediately after birth. While working as a midwife trainee, Trevathan carefully documented the births of more than one hundred women and recorded maternal and infant behaviors during the first hour after birth. She suggests ways in which the interactions served not only to enhance mother-infant bonding, but also to ensure survival in the evolutionary past. With clarity and compelling logic Trevathan argues that modern birth practices often fail to meet evolved needs of women and infants and suggests changes that could lead to better birth experiences. This paperback edition includes a new introduction by the author. |
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adaptive adult altricial amniotic sac Anglo women animals Apgar scores argue assistance associated australopithecines baby bipedalism birth canal body brain breastfeeding breech Chapter child childbirth cultures delivered described differences emergence encephalization environment evolutionary factors father favored fetal head fetus gender gestation giving birth greater hemochorial placenta Hispanic hominid hormone hospital hour after birth HRAF human female human infants human mothers immediately after birth increased interaction Klaus labor and delivery licking males mammalian mammals maternal behavior medication membranes midwives minutes after birth monkeys mortality mother and infant mother-infant bond multiparas neonatal newborn infant nonhuman primates normal noted observed obstetrical occiput occur offspring oxytocin parents parity parturition pattern pelvic placenta placentophagy position predators pregnancy primates primiparas prolactin pubic symphysis pups reproductive response result rhesus macaques second stage selection sexual reproduction significant social species suggests survival tactile transition usually variability visual viviparity vocalizations woman young
Popular passages
Page 115 - If a society wishes to create shared parental roles, it must either accept the high probability that the mother-infant relationship will continue to have greater emotional depth than the father-infant relationship, or institutionalize the means for providing men with compensatory exposure and training in infant and child care in order to close the gap produced by the physiological experience of pregnancy, birth, and nursing.
Page 174 - Never, never, ever seen a baby so beautiful. Oh God, oh baby, I love you. (Baby cries). No, no, no. Oh you do very good, you do very good, good, yes, yes, yes. It's alright. You cry some more? Oh, why you cry? Why you cry, oh yes. shshshshshshsh. No, noooooo. MIDWIFE: Give her [mother] some orange juice. MOTHER: (To midwife in normal voice pitch) Can I sit up so I can breastfeed the baby?
Page 208 - Maloney (1949), he notes that "the early closeness of the parent-child relationship, as it is initiated in rooming-in, may be the first step in forming the proper close family relationship.
Page 70 - The location of the presenting part (usually the head) in relation to the level of the ischial spines is designated "station," and indicates the degree of advancement through the pelvis (Figure 3.2).
Page 60 - In today's highly mobile nuclear families, child care by the father may be the only relief the mother has; thus, it is adaptive to enhance his interest and confidence in infant caretaking by allowing him to attend the birth of the child.
Page 110 - Homo erectus females to give birth without assistance, but having that assistance and support would have made the difference between life and death for many mothers and infants in that grade.
Page 161 - Chateau et al., (1978) found that 80-90% of primiparous and multiparous women held their newborn infants to the left of the body midline...