Reflections on Silent Birth

I consider myself a very open-minded person when it comes to birth. I like all sorts of variations on that theme, the funkier the better. So I was intrigued by this concept of silent birth, a tenet of childbirth for Scientologists, including some very high-profile pregnant celebrities. I understand that L. Ron Hubbard taught that a baby needs space for its own thoughts and should not be influenced by people talking for the first week of life. This seems odd to me, since a fetus in the third trimester can hear words and music, judging from what we now know about in-utero learning. Studies show that newborns recognize their mother’s voice, differentiating it from that of other women. You would think that a baby would be comforted by the familiar tones of its mother, which it has been hearing for months. A silent family doesn’t sound very welcoming to me.

But most of all, this story of silent birth worries me for mothers in labor. Women in labor need support and love. We are all used to communicating with words and asking for what we need with words. Expectant mothers go through many emotional states before giving birth. The excitement of the beginning of labor, the thought that the day has finally arrived. The fear of how they will handle the contractions. The focus on themselves as labor progresses. Whether a woman chooses an epidural or a natural birth, she may need to talk about how she is coping, ask for help, and even scream at times. Women who choose an epidural may need extra support to push effectively. Most women who give birth naturally feel at some point that they just can’t do it. The people around a woman in labor provide encouragement and strength. I find it hard to imagine all these needs being met in total silence.

I suppose if I thought it was clearly better for a baby to be born in silence I might have a different opinion, but since I can’t accept that a ban on talking is beneficial, it all seems to me to be a further restriction on women’s behaviour, defining the ‘good mother’ in a narrow and controlling way – one that only a man could have imagined. Maybe I’m not so open-minded after all.