We promote a natural, healthy and safe approach to pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting practices based on the best and most current medical evidence available.  Knowing that pregnancy and childbirth can be demanding on a woman’s body and mind, Lamaze serves as a resource for information about what to expect and what choices are available during the childbearing years.

These principles underpin our work with expectant and new parents:

Lamaze Approach to Pregnancy

• Pregnancy is a normal, natural life event.
• Women’s bodies are perfectly designed to nourish and nurture their babies through pregnancy.
• The months of pregnancy are necessary for babies to develop and grow, for women’s bodies to prepare for birth and for women to become mothers.
• Pregnancy provides an opportunity for mothers and fathers to begin forming lifelong bonds with their babies.
• A good support system, a healthy lifestyle and the ability to cope with the stresses of life promote a healthy pregnancy, a healthy birth and a healthy baby.
• The health-care system and care provider can increase or decrease a woman’s confidence in the normality of pregnancy and in her ability to have a healthy baby.
• Lamaze education empowers women gain confidence in their bodies, to trust their inner wisdom and to make informed decisions about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting.

Lamaze Approach to Birth

• Birth is normal, natural and healthy.
• The experience of birth profoundly affects women and their families.
• Women’s inner wisdom guides them through birth.
• Women’s confidence and ability to give birth are either enhanced or diminished by the care provider and place of birth.
• Women have a right to give birth free from routine medical interventions.
• Birth can safely take place in homes, birth centres and hospitals.
• Childbirth education empowers women to make informed choices in health care, to assume responsibility for their health and to trust their inner wisdom.

Lamaze Approach to Parenting

• Good parenting is vital to the physical, emotional and spiritual health of our children, ourselves and our society.
• Parenting is joyful, important, challenging and deeply satisfying work that is worthy of everyone’s best efforts.
• Parenting begins before birth. The intimate connection between children and their parents must be respected and protected from the moment of birth throughout life.
• Mothers and fathers play unique, irreplaceable roles in their children’s lives.
• Babies and children thrive in close, consistent interaction with their parents.
• Parenting is a learned art? our most important teachers are our own parents, our family and our children.
• Good parenting requires the support of family, friends and community.
• Knowledge and support enhance parents’ confidence and ability to make informed decisions that meet the needs of their children and themselves.