Aruna Raghuram interviewed Dr Gowri Motha, a London-based obstetrician, well-known childbirth pioneer, and founder of the Gentle Birth Method. Excerpts:

 

London-based celebrity medical practitioner of Indian origin, Dr. Gowri Motha graduated in medicine from the well-reputed St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, and practised as an obstetrician in Bengaluru and Chennai in the 1970s. However, she recalls not “quite fitting into the medical system in India at that time”.

In 1980, she moved to the UK and began working with the country’s world-renowned National Health Service (NHS). Six years later, in 1986, she became the first medical practitioner to offer water births in a London NHS hospital and founded the Gentle Birth Method (GBM) — “a practical and effective week-by-week, mind-body programme to celebrate pregnancy and make mothers birth fit.”

Since then, Dr Motha has enabled over 10,000 women to deliver infants naturally through a preparation programme that leads to “comfortable, calm and confident births”.

Among the mothers enabled by her are celebrities like supermodels Kate Moss and Elle Macpherson; fashion designer Stella McCartney, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller, Sophie Hunter Cumberbatch, and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. Indian mothers enabled by her include Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and entrepreneur Eiesha Bharti Pasricha.

Dr Motha is also author of Gentle Birth Method (2004) and Gentle First Year (2006).

What motivated you to develop the Gentle Birth Method?
My interest in water births was my primary motivation, as I deeply wanted mothers to have a gentler experience of childbirth. The birthing options offered to women in hospitals at that time were highly interventional.

While working in an NHS hospital in London in the 1980s, I set up a birthing pool in one of the labour rooms and asked women who were in labour to immerse themselves in warm water. I was initially very disappointed that none of the first few mothers gave birth in the water. I concluded that water on its own was not enough. I kept asking myself: What can I do to make this experience better?

Believing that self-hypnosis and visualization with deep muscle relaxation would provide some answers, I trained as a hypnotherapist and taught couples classes introducing self-hypnosis and visualisation techniques for gentle birth. During deep relaxation many helpful suggestions are made. One of them being that birthing is a natural phenomenon and ‘your body knows how to expand, relax and give birth’

Today, I talk couples through a hypnotic birth rehearsal, detailing how the mother’s body will respond to birthing and allow smooth and gentle birth. Another suggestion would be that ‘every surge (contraction) they experience will lead to a progressive opening of their cervix. Most importantly avoid using the word ‘pain’.
Ideally, I want a minimally invasive and needle-free delivery of babies. In my practice, around 90 percent of women who follow the GBM principles have intervention free natural births in hospital or at home.

What are the main highlights of the Gentle Birth Method?
GBM enables a woman to have an enjoyable pregnancy, gentle birth, and a calm baby. The treatments and classes are offered all the way through pregnancy and also supports a six-week post-natal recovery programme.

GBM prescribesseveral treatments and lifestyle changes encompassing diet, ayurveda, yoga, reflexology, self-hypnosis and visualisation techniques, and muscle release techniques.

It also requires birth preparation – physical, mental and emotional — to help pregnant mothers express their natural physiological birthing reflex. The birth preparation programme is usually about 10-12 weeks with most women starting at 16-20 weeks of pregnancy.

In GBM you have integrated eastern and western practices. Please elaborate.
Yes. GBM incorporates the best of eastern and western practices. The eastern practices incorporated are yoga, ayurvedic lifestyle counselling and ayurvedic body massage.

Our yoga teachers have developed and teach, gentle micro-movements for pregnancy yoga that helps ensure the child an optimal foetal position within the mother’s womb.

We have yoga practice videos recorded by our yoga teachers available online on my web store. I also recommend easily available ayurvedic herbal decoctions and teas to improve digestion and ensure good sleep during pregnancy.

A balanced diet and supplements are also necessary to give the mother’s body the necessary nutrients for pregnancy and childbirth. In additon, a gluten free and sugar free diet is my mantra. I also encourage women to restrict weight gain to a minimum of around 8 to 10 kg in total during pregnancy. This is to ensure the birthing spaces are not congested with fatty tissue and for fluid retention.

Are there any specific physical treatments in GBM?
There are some specific treatments. For instance, warm oil can be poured down the lower back of the pregnant woman in a thin steady stream for 40 minutes. The practice, known as ‘pelvic dhara’ relaxes the lower back and pelvic muscles to increase the elasticity of the birthing zones.

Moreover, reflexology is also offered right through the pregnancy. We also love the technique that involves tapping of a pregnant woman’s feet in a specific pattern that removes anxiety in would-be mothers, thereby contributing to a calm baby.

Our GBM treatments aim to enable mothers to remain physically and mentally fit and maintain high energy levels during pregnancy. They also release tight pelvic tendons and realign joints and muscles to create more flexibility for birth.

We advise the use vaginal ayurvedic oils in the last few weeks of pregnancy, to make the inner birthing tissues elastic and help the cervix to dilate smoothly during childbirth. There are additional specific treatments to alleviate common pregnancy symptoms, such as nausea, bloating, back pain and fluid retention.

What ways can a pregnant woman bond with her unborn infant?
These days, working women are not even fully accepting of their pregnancy. They carry on as if nothing new has happened. My work also involves making women accept and celebrate their pregnancy. I urge women to talk to their baby in the womb every day.

This could be one reason why women who follow GBM report that their infants are not fussy and are calm after birth. They cry if they are hungry or need a nappy change and mostly sleep well.

How affordable is the GBM programme?
My method is not just for the elite. I have tried to make it accessible to all mothers-to-be. I have reached out to pregnant women and new mothers all over the world through my two books. The books have dietary guidelines and recipes, pregnancy massages and yoga exercises with illustrations, YouTube videos demonstrating pregnancy massage techniques with creative healing are available free of charge online.

GBM is an easy-to-follow common sense method that women can practice at home with a little help from their partners and families.

Also, the Gentle Birth Method Foundation subsidises treatments and classes for mothers enrolled at NHS hospitals. My online classes for pregnant mothers can be followed by mothers in India. Recently, we have been spreading the GBM philosophy in India by teaching doctors and midwives how to offer GBM to pregnant mothers, and supportive families.

“ Dr. Gowri took care of me for the entire duration of my pregnancy. Her Gentle Birth Method is nothing short of amazing. I followed her routine and principles to the ‘T’ and delivered a beautiful healthy baby girl without needing an epidural. The programme is vigorous but rooted deep in ancient principles of pregnancy massages with special oils, stretching, swimming, and a well-balanced diet. It was a very special time in my life and Dr. Gowri, since then, has become a close friend.” — Eiesha Bharti Pasricha, entrepreneur