Great book, great tips - Rated 
Great book.
I wish I had it in my other pregnancies.
Great tips like avoiding wheat for easier delivery.
Some good advice, beware if you have a posterior baby! - Rated 
I have bought this book (after some careful thought) at about 25 wks. I was already eating sensibly and planning reflexology, perineal massage etc.
I had a posterior birth before and my labour was long and traumatising (despite people telling me "how neat" I looked!). I definetely did not want the same experience this time. One day, out of curiosity, as I suspected I might be carrying the baby the same way (again I carried a neat bump),I searched on how to avoid a posterior birth and found out that it depended also on the position of the placenta. Apparently, if you had an anterior placenta, the baby would be more likely to face towards it, making you more at risk for a posterior birth. Checking my notes, I discovered that I had an anterior placenta! My reluctant midwife(she had not heard of this theory before) confirmed also that I was right, I was indeed carrying my baby in a posterior position, to her surprise.
I made more research and found out a groundbreaking book from Jean Sutton on optimal foetal positioning. Why does The Gentle Birth NOT talk about these things? All the programme is futile if you have a posterior baby as it takes weeks of being in specific positions to turn it (despite her describing a successful story of the baby turning in labour)!!
The programme is also very expensive. I would only stick to the labour and post-natal homeopathic remedies, reflexology in the last month at least and perineal massage.
The rest of the complementary therapies is likely to be vastly unnecessary.
It is a good book overall, but lacking the vital info on how to get your baby in the right position before birth, I can only give it 3 stars.
Completely amazing experience - Rated
Hi
Im 30 weeks pregnant and have been following this book since 6 weeks. Yes the book would benefit from an index but other than that i find the information clear and concise with relevant evidence supporting each recomendation.
Im the only one of my pregnant friends that has followed this book (despite me asking them to at least read about it) and so far so good, Ive had no ailments, no stretch marks no swollen joints. my baby is currently measuring perfectly on the fundal height chart. I am nearly half the size of a friend at a similar point in her pregnancy and have suffered no nausea or sickness at all
This book has really made me feel in control of my pregnany, and taken away any ignorance or preconceptions I may have had about the whole experience, Im weirdly actually looking forward to giving birth and meeting my child
So far i havent had any of the treatments, my husband does give me a few tummy massages a week. I do recommend the teas and the salt programme tho, and i think every mum should take MorDHA there are so many benefits to your child!
Great as long as everything is going ok.. - Rated
I thought that this was a great book and tried to follow as much as possible (not easy living in Italy). I was exercising and at 20 weeks had only put on about 3 kilos. However half way through month 6 I was taken into hospital with contractions, put on a drip and advocated strict bed rest for nearly 3 weeks. Needless to say I cannot now follow her guidelines and I feel that while her advice is great if everything is going to plan, she doesn't offer much support if (and who knows why?) your pregnancy doesn't follow her ideal. Given her clear indication that big babies are all the fault of the mother's diet, I feel terribly at fault and anxious that I am now carrying a baby that is 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I am trying to eat sensibly and not (everytime I look at her book) put myself on a ridiculous eating regime nor add to my own anxiety about my weight. So I would advocate caution about this book. Great when all going well but stores up a whole string of extra worries if things go off the rails.
Intimidating - Rated
This book focuses on ayurvedic and holistic techniques and foods for pregnancy. I think that if you have the money it would be a fantastic programme to follow in pregnancy. However, if you are short on funds then it is impossible to follow all the treatments and suggestions outlined in this book. For example; the pregnant woman is supposed to drink 2 different ayurvedic herbal teas every day of the pregnancy. This herbal teas is for one month's supply. Then there are the homeopatic salts that are to be taken in each different trimester, not to mention the massages that are to be booked every single week. We are also asked to cut out wheat and then gluten.Not to mention the self-hypnosis ante natal classes.It is not that I disagree at all with these methods and principles, just that if your pregnancy is not being managed by the Jayarani clinic on one of their pregnancy courses, it seems like an intimdating and overwhleming programme to follow in an already what can seem overwhelming time. Whilst there are elements of this book that I feel will be useful in my pregnancy, on the whole i just felt really out of my depth with this book.
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