Sheila kitzinger autobiography range
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Sheila Kitzinger, natural childbirth expert, dies aged 86
Prof Kitzinger said her mother had campaigned on a wide range of issues including female genital mutilation, prisoners giving birth in handcuffs and human rights in midwifery in Eastern Europe.
She added: "She is so much more than a 'natural birth guru'."
Her publisher Pinter & Martin said her work had had enormous impact on millions of women around the world.
An active writer and campaigner into her eighties, Ms Kitzinger set up the Birth Crisis Network, a helpline for mothers who had experienced a traumatic birth.
Writing on her website, she said: "The romantic image of a radiant mother, a beautiful baby in her arms, her golden hair lit by the sun's rays, displayed on the jackets of many birth books is far removed from reality.
"New mothers are often unhappy. This major life transition is made incredibly difficult by poverty, poor housing, overcrowding, and social isolation.
"But one reason why many women have low self-esteem and cannot enjoy their babies is that care in childbirth often denies them honest information, the possibility of choice, and simple human respect."
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Sheila Kitzinger: Natural childbirth advocate who challenged the medical establishment and aimed to give more choice to mothers
Sheila Kitzinger was a powerful advocate for natural childbirth and home births who dedicated her career to the revolutionary idea that giving birth should be an exhilarating and rewarding experience, taken out of the hands of obstetricians and medical staff and given back to women.
She rose to prominence in the s and s, confronting the medical establishment with her belief that mothers, not the clinicians and their time-honoured procedures, should be the focus during childbirth. In the s she developed the concept of a birth plan – now de rigueur – aiming to give more choice to pregnant women. With her relentless campaigning she almost single-handedly changed traditional attitudes to childbirth, challenging a medical fraternity which expected women to do what they were told and let the experts handle things.
She wrote more than two dozen books, gaining a global audience as she waged an unrelenting crusade advocating the mother's right to be at the centre of the birthing process. Thanks to her it became normal to see partners present at the birth, and she established the importance of breast-feeding to maternal and infant health.
She caused a sensa