Katie Holmes will try for drug-free, "silent birth"

by Stefania Butler (Subscribe to Stefania Butler's posts) Oct 8th 2005 3:06PM

According to the New York Daily News, Katie Holmes will be giving birth without drugs, in silence. That's because her fiancé, psychiatry expert, Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist. Practitioners of Scientology are against painkillers, but insist on "silent birth" because "they believe it's traumatic for babies to hear their mothers groan or cry." Scientologists follow the teaching of their founder, L. Ron Hubbard who said, "Maintain silence in the presence of birth to save the sanity of the mother and the child and safeguard the home to which they will go." But it's not just a silent birth. Scientologists also prescribe seven days of silence for newborns "so their first week on Earth is trauma-free. But this has run afoul of state-mandated blood tests, which require at least a pinprick." I just…it's like…I mean…I don't know what to say.

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Comments (67)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

Jen 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

I know what to say.

Katie, RUN!

MelissaS 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Dear Katie,

Please take your vitamins.

Sincerely, Melissa

sarah gilbert 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

interestingly, many Asian cultures insist that women are silent while pushing - and when I mentioned this to my OB, she agreed it was useful.

HOWEVER. the rest of it. nutso. methinks baby will have the last laugh - err, cry.

Ann Adams 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Do we tie the women down and gag them? As I mentioned somewhere before, childbirth was easy for me but even so, I'm sure I wasn't silent.

Shame Tom can't have the baby.

Missy 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Yeah, Ann. It's a shame that most men in this country can't have babies. Think of how the political atmosphere would change. Almost instantly, I'm sure! :)

Hey, more power to Katie if she can get through the whole thing without making a sound. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that someone did on the grounds of their religious beliefs, Scientology or otherwise. I just can't believe that she truly subscribes to it...I mean, being raised a Catholic and all.

Oh well...silly celebrities...

Sheila Cameron 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

As a very new Mom I find this pretty distressing. Since when is noise and expressing what you are going through considered negative? I have never heard anything better than the first cry of my daughter. Who's to say that they don't need the same thing from their mothers?

I am also the person who started the "Free Katie" thing, so this just gives me more "inspiration". Stop by to say hello if you'd like.

http://freekatie.net

Sheila

dragonfly 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

I find it astonishing that the media has been twisting everything that Tom and Katie do into something sinister and evil solely because of their religion.

That anyone on this board expresses anything but joy and congratulations to them for being with child is truly sickening and morally bankrupt in the extreme. I hope you are ashamed of yourselves.

On top of that, this news report is false and misleading. If anyone would actually care to read the book and find out what ACTUALLY is supposed to be done (there's several chapters on the subject), then you might - heaven forbid!! - find out that a Scientology birth is quite sane, unlike the media would like you to believe. Listening to a few quotes taken out of context and twisted to suit the antagonism of the writer, doesn't make for good common sense.

With each regurgitation of the second and third hand media reports, the story magically gets worse and worse - due solely to the imagination of reporters attempting to shock and awe with maximum controversy and minimal truth.

ReDinkyDink 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

The drug-free part of Kate and Tom's birth plan doesn't bother me nearly as much as the "silent" part. Many people strive for a drug free bith. But the idea that she would have to hold in any noise! How barbaric. I'm only 21 week along in my pregnancy, but I imagine that crying out could potentially help your body deliver the baby. Maybe it works along the same principle as martial arts.

How do they think they are going to keep the baby slient for the first week. I have no experience yet, but I'm quite sure that would be imposible.

I'll agree with commentator #1: Run Kate, run!

Jay Allen 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

"a Scientology birth is quite sane"

That would be a nice change of pace for that religion.

meg 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

I am about to be overdrawn on my account. I am on my way to being "morally bankrupt"
Do Scientologists earn good intrest on their morality? Perhaps I could get a loan...

Silent birth
sounds like an oxymoron to me.
Kind of like
dry diapers
sleep late
quiet evening
empty hamper
clean kitchen
comfortable postpartum

I think it's hilarious that a man, espousing religious doctrines thought up by another man would think that vocalization in the birthing room would traumatize the baby.
I'm curious, and I honestly would like to know the methodology behind any statistics produced, how does one asses that a baby born in a quiet room would be less traumatized than being born in a noisy one? if I remember my reading right, the womb is a noisy place, full of gurgles, thumps, squishes and rumbles, not to mention outside noise. If he is concerned about baby truama, perhaps they should skip the whole vaginal birth while they're at it and pluck the baby from the vine that is Katie Holmes.

prdmommyof3 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Ok I had my last two babies unmedicated, but because of that there was no silence involved and I can't imagine how one would ever pull that off during that amount of pain! GOOD LUCK KATIE!

Laura 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Katie's never had a child before... when she's in labor I predict that she will be asking for a breakup if told to shut up. Scientology is a CULT. How many children have died because they weren't allowed to take medication of any sort? Too bad they can't all pop in a room together and drink the koolaid....

L. 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Sarah, to add to your comment above, about some Asian cultures discouraging women from making noise while pushing -- my only birth in Japan was by c-section, but I have many friends who had vaginal biths in hospitals or with midwives there. Many report they were told to keep quiet -- but the rationale was not that the baby would be bothered by the sounds, but that they should instead concentrate on their breathing. One of my friends, in a painful moment during the pushing phase of her natural birth, demanded her attending doctor to "Give me one good reason why I should not scream!" and he said, "Because you should do your breathing instead, and give yourself and your baby more oxygen."

CDL 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Although I think a silent birth without meds is crazy business, I think all birth theories are. Lamaze and Bradley were men too, and for that reason I opted not to take any birthing classes. I figured I was better off talking to friends and watching documentaries than reading the ideas of men on womens bodies.

As an aside, mocking celebs does not make anyone morally bankrupt-but if you believe that our insulting Tomkat is wrong, what would you call your insulting us?

HypnoBirthingMom 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

I used HypnoBirthing for my sons birth and never felt the need to scream or make a lot of noise. It was a beautiful peaceful birth with nobody shouting to push ...and no drugs and only a tightening sensation....no pain at all.....having a gentle birth is a wonderful gift to your baby. Good luck to Katie.

Nancy Toby 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

This cockamamie pseudo-religious stuff - gad.

It sounds like another method to Blame Mom if the kid has problems - if she screamed during labor, then it's HER FAULT if anything goes wrong later, because the kid was traumatized at birth.

Gosh, I guess the last 500 generations of women did it all wrong. Who knew?

Oh, yeah. L. Ron Hubbard knew. *cough*

Michelle Bedard 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

more power to Katie for the silent birth. It will be wonderful. If she has truly been "converted" I think that she could really resent & begin to hate Tom during this experience if it doesn't go the way he wants it. Out the back door with controlling, brainwashing men.Good luck to both.

Denien Wilde 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Scientology was founded by a second-rate science fiction writer which I think speaks volumes in itself.
Of course it is convenient for Tom Cruise to not believe in chemical imbalances when he is obviously bipolar. It is to bad that he will not be the one delivering the baby and experiencing the hormone changes etc. I feel sorry for Katie.
If my husband had told me that I could not speak to my child after giving birth to her I would have told him to go find a rubber room somewhere. I think that is creepy and ridiculous.

Julie 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

Okay, I had no drugs and I was silent by choice. I was consentrating on my focal point and breathing. This is not a bad idea. Keeping silent keeps you relaxed and keeps the breathing smooth and in time. If you yell, you tense up. If you talk, your timong is out the window. How about instead of being critics to those that don't do things like you do, you say hey, that's Katie's birth plan AND it's none of my business!

Jim 12-18-2005 @ 6:40PM

My wife and I had 4 children using Scientology principles combined with Lamaze natural childbirth techniques. Two births in hospital and two at home. However their births were quite different than the way it's portrayed in the news. I don't know where they get that stuff! First of all, I would say it's impossible to be completely silent: anyone who's been there knows that the final contractions are pretty fierce, but you CAN keep the excess chatter down and only speak when necessary. The idea is to keep the environment as calm as possible, both for mother and child. After birth we welcomed our babies to their family and to the world and the rest is history.

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