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About Us
The mission of Lamaze International is to promote, support and protect normal birth through education and advocacy. Our vision is a world of confident women choosing normal birth.
Lamaze has changed childbirth for millions of families through the dedicated efforts of professional childbirth educators, providers and parents, since its founding as a nonprofit association in 1960. The birthing experience that we consider standard now - awake, aware, supported by family and friends, no maternal/infant separation - was unheard of in the United States when we began. Our co-founder and Emeritus Director, Elisabeth Bing, tells this pioneering story in her article Lamaze Childbirth: Then and Now.
When the Lamaze organization began its work in 1960, it was known as the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics. Later in the 1970s, as Lamaze became popularized, the association became better known as ASPO/Lamaze. And today, the organization's name has been changed to Lamaze International, Inc., reflecting the reach of the organization beyond the United States. This new name allows us to remain true to our past while opening our arms to the future.
Forty years of research and learning from women’s experience of normal, natural birth have provided evidence that has gradually but dramatically changed Lamaze from being a method for giving birth to a philosophy that provides the foundation and direction for women as they prepare to give birth and become mothers. “Breathing” is no longer the hallmark of Lamaze. The Lamaze Philosophy of Birth is at the heart of Lamaze education and has been for nearly a decade the driving force for significant changes in Lamaze preparation for childbirth.
Today’s Lamaze affirms the normalcy of birth, acknowledges women’s inherent ability to birth their babies, and explores all the ways that women find strength and comfort during labor and birth. Our position paper, Lamaze for the 21st Century, outlines the evidenced-based rationale for the evolution of Lamaze preparation for birth. The Lamaze Philosophy of Birth, supported by an ever-growing body of research, provides direction for today’s Lamaze preparation for childbirth. The Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator promotes, supports and protects every woman’s right to give birth, confident in her own ability, free to find comfort in a wide variety of ways, and supported by her family and all members of the health care team.
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