MONTREAL (PasseportSanté.net) May 2, 2005 – As true “genetic engineers”, parents, whether they are aware of it or not, physiologically program the genes and behaviors of their children.
This would happen more specifically from conception, including pregnancy, until the age of six. The environment – emotional, social, physical – would have primacy over genes and not the other way around.
Thus, from 85% to 95% of the behaviors of an adult would come from his subconscious, which is forged before his birth and during his childhood. The power of parents over the well-being of children is said to be much greater than one might think.
This is the astonishing thesis supported by the American biologist Bruce Lipton during the 3e International symposium in health and perinatal care which took place last week in Montreal.
The importance of the emotional state of the parents around the birth was the backdrop of the symposium. According to François Amigues, osteopath and president of the Amour Parent Birth Institute, which organized the event, the emotional environment conditions the entire life of the child and the adult he will become.
Under the theme Well-being to be born well, experts like the psychoanalyst Guy Corneau, the gynecologist Eva Gundberg and the founder of total biology Claude Sabbah have looked at the factors that promote the well-being and health of children, with sometimes unusual results.
The existential fear of being born
For the Quebec psychoanalyst Guy Corneau, “the emotional state of the mother is the air of the child”. According to him, birth is a passage that generates an existential fear linked to the fact of changing the world, which he compares to the fear of death, and which can be interpreted as a feeling of abandonment. How to facilitate this passage? “First, by undoing the fears of parents around birth,” he argues. There are several ways to do this, such as haptonomy ”(see our sheet). The mother’s openness to her capacity to love would allow the child, even in the mother’s womb, to feel recognized for what she is deeply, which would have a major influence on her future relationships, her life. creativity, and even his physical health.
Coming from Venezuela, DD Eva Gundberg, obstetrician-gynecologist, presented the method of childbirth and birth preparation that she created. At the time of birth, great attention is paid to the atmosphere and nothing is neglected in order to create a climate of security (temperature from 28 ºC to 34 ºC, soft lighting, hot bath, etc.). As in the case of other “soft” birthing methods, this would help create an environment more conducive to the future development of the child.
DD Grundberg favors vertical childbirth: the mother is standing, supported by the father, standing behind her. With the help of gravity, the child positions himself more easily. In her experience, complications are less frequent and episiotomy is less common. She thus wishes to reduce the use of technologies, prevent complications, and strengthen children’s self-esteem.
In practice
Apart from approaches such as emotional preparation for birth, the loving welcome that parents can offer their child and the emotional care they can give him afterwards, few specific techniques have been offered to parents, except those which aim to solve problems arising from their own birth. Among other things, total biology, transgenerational analysis, psychotherapy and biological analogy were discussed (see our fact sheets on some of these approaches in the associated Documents).
In short, this symposium contrasted with current concerns, which focused above all on the mother’s lifestyle (smoking, alcohol, food, etc.) and on the socio-economic conditions of the family.
Even if, according to Guy Corneau, this affective approach brings an important missing link, we will have to wait a few more years before being able to rule with more confidence on this vision of health and perinatal care.
Asked to comment on the event, Richard E. Tremblay, psychologist and Quebec researcher, specifies that “although some of these methods may have a certain meaning, they have not yet demonstrated their effectiveness in preventing diseases in children”.
Marie-Michèle Mantha – PasseportSanté.net
Version revised on May 5, 2005
