Articles by Sheila Kitzinger

Articles by Sheila

"Good Morning America ... website called it (caesarean section) 'A less painful choice' It went on : 'When it comes to childbirth, many mums are just saying no to the pain and yes to the pain relievers'.

It is ironic that the phrase 'Just say no', invented for the anti-drug campaign , is now being used to promote drugs for pain relief. There is no mention of anaesthetic risk, the way the system of care often creates pain in failing to give women emotional support and encouragement, putting them flat on their backs, on a narrow bed and harpooning them to electronic equipment and intravenous drips; of any alternatives to drugs; or of how pain can be handled and how it turns into suffering when women feel they have no control over it...

There is little acknowledgement of the side-effects of caesarean section...

Choice is questionable unless women can obtain accurate information, and are free to give not only 'informed consent' but 'informed refusal'...

They see vaginal birth as ugly, agonising - a form of torture - and enlist a surgeon to avoid this."

Extract from Who would choose to have a caesarean? by Sheila in British Journal of Midwifery May 2001

Most recently published articles are listed on the News Web Page .

Home Birth, Midwives, & Doulas	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 35(3) pp 250-252	September 2008
Los bebés copian el estado de humor que transmitimos	Interview on crying babies for bebesaltademanda.com		September 2008
Home Birth Reborn	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 35(1) pp 77-78	March 2008
Women's Choices & the Midwife Crisis	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 34(3) page	September 2007
The Making of an Obstetrician	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 34(1) pp 91-93	March 2007
Giving emotional pain a name	The Practising Midwife	Vol 10 no 1 pp 22	January 2007
Birth as rape: There must be an end to 'just in case' obstetrics.	British Journal of Midwifery Women who suffer traumatic births often use the same language as victims of rape. Sheila Kitzinger discusses post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from birth and describes the effect on these women.	Vol 14 no 9 page 544	September 2006
Ten Questions We talk to Sheila Kitzinger, famous for her books on childbirth	Oxfordshire: the news magazine from oxfordshire county council.	Issue 13 pp24	Winter 2006/2007
	The Times Higher Education Supplement		23rd June 2006
Life should be a voyage of discovery	The Independent on Sunday	pp55	11th June 2006
	The Times (T2 Health)		28th May 2006
Boot Camps for Babies	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 33, no 1	Mar 2006
Review of The Politics of Birth by Elizabeth Hormann	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 33, no 1 pp84-5	Mar 2006
	The Daily Mail		14th Dec 2005
Jeremy Vine's show on Radio 2 at 1:30pm	www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/vine		13th Dec 2005
Battle of the Baby Gurus	The Independent, page 10		13th Dec 2005
Discipline versus natural approach: baby care authors draw battle lines	The Daily Telegraph, page 14		12th Dec 2005
The experts' guide to: birth the birth rights expert: Sheila Kitzinger	Junior Pregnancy and Baby, page 37		Oct 2005
Interview with Sheila Kitzinger	Women's Health Medicine	Vol 2 Issue 4	July -Aug 2005
Birth, Military Occupation, and Patriarchy	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 23 no 3	Sept 2005
The language of birth Based on chapter in The Politics of Birth	BIRTH MATTERS Journal of the Maternity Coalition Inc www.maternitycoalition.org.au	Vol 9.3	Sept 2005
Midwifery Degraded	The Practicing Midwife	Vol 8 no 8	Sept 2005
Home birth: a social process, not a medical crisis An extract from Sheila's book The Politics of Birth	The Practising Midwife	Vol 8 no 4	April 2005
Moslem Values and Childbirth	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care		Mar 2005
	NHS Magazine		Nov 2004
The great debate: should birth be a private event? Primaeval needs by Michel Odent A Birth Companion by Sheila Kitzinger	Junior Pregnancy and Baby		Oct 2004
Pregnant Asylum Seekers: The Dispossessed Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 31:3	Sept 2004
An interview & photos of Sheila's house.	The Sunday Times		25 April 2004
Born again, naturally Extract from the New Experience of Childbirth	The Guardian G2		14 April 2004
Interview with Sheila Regaining birth control by Kate Tregaskis	The Scotsman		13 Apr 2004
What's Happening to Midwives in Europe? Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 31:1	Mar 2004
Living Legend	American Baby, CBE Reporter		Fall 2003
A case for abolishing hard labour	The Independent Review		22 Sept 2003
The Politics of Birth Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 30,3	Sept 2003
Abstract & comments on Health Outcomes of Incarcerated Pregnant Women and their Infants in a community-based program.	in MIDIRS Midwifery Digest	Vol 13,1	Mar 2003
Waterbirth and Song	Chapter 10.9 in Midwifery BEST PRACTICE Ed. Sara Wickham Books for Midwives, Elsevier,		2003
The Clock, the Bed, the Chair, the Pool Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 30,1	Mar 2003
Mother's and babies in prison in the USA	MIDIRS Midwifery Digest	Vol 13	Jan 2003
A life in architecture - Sheila Kitzinger by Eleanor Allen	The architect's journal	17:216	Nov 2002
Silence is Collusion Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care		Sep 2002
It's your body, your birth: take control	Junior Pregnancy & Baby		Winter 2002
When childbirth us an unhappy event article by Deborah Hutton, with quotes from Sheila.	The Mail on Sunday magazine -You		3 Nov 2002
My life with the NCT	New Generation (The NCT magazine)		May 2002
What Do We Tell the Children? Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 29,1	Mar 2002
My Best Teacher	The Times Educational Supplement		Jan 2002
Becoming a mother	Midwifery Digest	Vol 11,4	Dec 2001
My First Book	The Author		Sep 2001
Awake, Aware - and Action! Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 28,3	Sep 2001
Talking point To smack or not to smack?	The Parents Guide	Issue 28	May/June 2001
The Great Childbirth Blackmail	Daily Mail [Femail forum]		June 14 2001
Who would choose to have a caesarean?	British Journal of Midwifery	Vol. 9, 5	May 2001
Featured Consultant - Sheila Kitzinger	International Journal of Childbirth Education	Vol. 16,. 1	Mar 2001
Birth and Breastfeeding in the UK media Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe With Jenny Kitzinger	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	Vol 28,1	Mar 2001
Eating for two - our own and other cultures	The Vegetarian		Spring 2001
The Waterbirth Debate up-to-date	MIDIRS Midwifery Digest		Dec 2000
Some cultural Perspectives on Birth	British Journal of Midwifery		Dec 2000
How to get a home birth	You and Your Baby		Dec 2000
Handling Labour Pain	Expecting Our Baby		Dec 2000
Some Cultural Perspectives on Birth	British Journal of Midwifery		Dec 2000
Birth Rituals around the World	Having a Baby		Dec 2000
Mother of New Labour	The Scotsman		08/11/2000
Sexual Abuse in Birth	Junior		Nov 2000
Sex in Pregnancy	Mother and Baby		Nov 2000
Sheila Kitzinger’s Best Birth Guide	Expecting Our Baby		Nov 2000
When a bad birth haunts you	Prima Baby		Oct/Nov 2000
Infant Morality	The Glasgow Herald		28/10/2000
Labour of Love	The Guardian		26/10/2000
Why every mother needs a baby moon	The Express		26/10/2000
The Woman who Changed Childbirth	Junior		Oct 2000
Waterbirth Distress after Childbirth	www.babyworld.co.uk		Oct 2000
Waterbirth and Song	Practising Midwife		Oct 2000
The Waterbirth Debate Up-to-date Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care		Sep 2000
Giving birth through the wondrous eyes of a child. Blood sweat and tears (but she's still smiling)	Junior		Sep 2000
Sheila reviewed a paper on Modesty in Breastfeeding To read extracts from her article click here	Midirs Digest		Sept 2000
Home Birth Matters Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care		Mar 2000
Aromatherapy in Childbirth New research published through Oxford Brookes University	The Independent, Health Page		21 Oct 99
Midwives on Trial Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care		May 99
Letter with Wendy Savage, about the Caroline Flint case	The Guardian		14 May 99
Sheila quoted in The panel, Today's question: should a woman who chooses a Caesarean pay for it?	The Guardian		21 April 99
Birth plans: how are they being used?	British Journal of Midwifery	Vol 7, 5	May 99
Lifeline	Lancet	Vol 353, 9159	3 April 99
Debate! (about advertising for a granny)	Independent on Sunday		28 Mar 99
Obstetric Metaphors and Marketing Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	26:1	Mar 99
Birth in Prison: The rights of the baby	The Practising Midwife	Vol 2, 1	Jan 99
Baby's First Snapshot	Pregnancy Plus		Jan 98/99
Court-Ordered Cesareans in the U.K. Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	25:3	Sept 98
Baby is it really you? Who benefits from seeing their unborn child so early?	The Guardian		27 May 98
	Reprinted in Midirs midwifery digest	Vol 8, 3	Sept 98
The man who taught us children are human too (Dr Spock)	The Express		17 Mar 98
The hardest labour of all The prison system's treatment of a birthing woman - Roisin McAliskey	The Guardian		16 Mar 98
The Cesarean Epidemic in Great Britain Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	25:1	Mar 98
How Can We Help Pregnant Women and Mothers in Prison? Sheila Kitzinger's letter from Europe	Birth Issues in Perinatal Care	24:3	Sept 97