Are Updated Methods More or Less Effective?

Breathing techniques central to the Lamaze method have been substantially altered since they were introduced in the United States in the 1950s, says Flora Hommel, one of the first Lamaze instructors in this country.

Hommel says the techniques have been so distorted that they are no longer effective. More important, she says, the emphasis on controlling pain has been lost.

“The Lamaze philosophy says that the huge majority of pain comes from your head, from conditioned responses,” she says. “We go into labor expecting pain and we get it. I’m convinced most of these (childbirth education) programs don’t believe (in pain-free childbirth). If you don’t teach that it’s possible for birth to be painless, you’ll never see it.”

But Joyce DiMarco, a member of a separate Lamaze organization called the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics-Lamaze, says the technique has undergone necessary refinements as science has yielded more information about pain control.

“We’re moving closer to understanding pain and how it’s transmitted and how to interrupt it. We’ve gone to increased use of imagery and relaxation and are putting the emphasis less on breathing,” she says.

“Yes, Dr. Lamaze probably would turn over in his grave if he saw what we are doing.”