Frederick Leboyer Quotes
Yes, hell exists. It is not a fairy tale. One indeed burns there. This hell is not at the end of life. It is here. At the beginning. Hell is what the infant must experience before he gets to us.
Leboyer, Frederick. Birth Without Violence. Alfred A. Knopf, 1975, p. 15.
Frédérick Leboyer was a French obstetrician and author. He is best known for his 1974 book, Birth Without Violence, which popularized gentle birthing techniques, in particular, the practice of immersing newborn infants in a small tub of warm water — known as a "Leboyer bath" — to help ease the transition from the womb to the outside world. He also advocated low lighting and quiet in a warm room to limit the supposed shock of birth,[Reynolds, Concise Encyclopedia of Special Education, 138] and that a newborn be laid on its mother's stomach and allowed to bond, instead of being taken away for tests.
