Istanbul academy offers mom-friendly delivery
ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News
Doctor Hakan Çoker says during two-day courseson Lamaze philosophy they encourage the women to cooperate with their doctors and to pass on knowledge. Hürriyet photo
A fast and painless child delivery does not necessarily make a happy mother, according to doctor Hakan Çoker, who is running the Istanbul Doğum Akademisi (Istanbul Birth Academy). The academy adopts Lamaze philosophy and gives training to parents to prepare them for natural delivery.Lamaze Philosophy relies on the claim that women’s bodies are perfectly designed to nourish and nurture their babies through pregnancy. Lamaze education aims to empower women, to gain confidence in their bodies, to trust their inner wisdom and to make informed decisions about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting.
The academy, opened a year and a half ago, offers two-day courses on Lamaze philosophy, hypnobirding, psychodrama, respiration techniques, meditation and more.
“Our aim is to educate the doctors into developing a confidence in the pregnant women’s power through education of those women first. We encourage the women to cooperate with their doctors and to pass on knowledge.”
He said that he did not accept any women under his own charge, because he found this unethical. The women themselves should be in charge.
Mothers should be in charge
Çoker said that a mother should be in control of the delivery process in order to come out happily from it. “Natural delivery reduces the risk of post-partum depression, which is known to be very high in planned Cesarean procedures. It is all a matter of time. Birth is a very long process, and the hospitals are all full. When the delivery process stops at a certain level, the current procedure is to force it through artificial means. But in natural births we provide psychological support through our pregnancy psychologist Neşe Karabekir, and our midwife assists the mother throughout.”
He said he would only touch the mother if medical intervention was unavoidable. “The delivery is realized in the hospital, in a room which has all the necessary medical equipment, just in case. But the mother delivers on her own.”
And the trick is to learn the right movements to facilitate the delivery, rather than lying down on a bed and waiting for someone to make it happen.
“I used to use the same techniques that doctors use now to intervene in a slow delivery, but I have changed. Now I want to change the whole system,” Çoker said.
