In this interview with Sarah Kraft, Robbie David Floyd, PhD shares the incredible role that babies play in finding their way out of the womb, and the strength they have to find their way to the mother’s chest for their first sip of milk. Robbie points out that these amazing abilities are only available to babies who are born naturally, and who are not drugged by medications in the birth room.
Discussion
Describe a moment in which you witnessed the strength and role of the baby in the birth and breastfeeding initiation? How did it change your perception of the birth process?
About the Expert
Robbie Davis-Floyd, PhD, is a medical anthropologist specializing in the anthropology of reproduction. She is a senior research fellow at the University of Texas, Austin, author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage, and lead editor of 10 collections, including Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-cultural Perspectives (1997), Mainstreaming Midwives (2006), and Birth Models That Work (2009).