Raising Healthy Children

The newborn is exposed to trauma from the moment of birth -- and we now know that these experiences are never forgotten, but rather they are locked in the armor. Reich's therapy with adults, and his interest in preventing disease, led him to focus on children, primarily the newborn. He believed that nothing was more important than understanding how the environment impacts infant children.

Preventing Armoring in Infants
Reich felt very deeply that the future of the planet depended upon how we raise up succeeding generations of children. To that end, he established the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund for the purpose of carrying forth the work of preventing armoring in infants and children, which can begin at birth or even before.

During the pregnancy itself, it would, of course, be best if the mother could avoid situations that stress her emotionally. From the moment of conception onward, the mother's bioenergetic system is interacting constantly with the developing infant. Consequently, mother's orgonotic, that is, energetic, state is reflected in the energetic state of the fetus.

If the mother is happy and expansive and feeling well and the energy is able to flow down into her pelvis and into the baby more readily, then baby is going to have more energy and be more pulsatile, be more alive and have more feeling.

Ideal Birth Conditions
The ideal birth would be one that was natural in that there would be no medications used to sedate the mother and subsequently affect the child. Those assisting mother would intervene as little as possible and allow the process to go forward in natural way without the labor being rushed or forced. The surroundings would be conducive to comfort and well-being for the mother and she would be allowed to walk around and to assume any position that's comfortable. She would have her baby without a great deal of medical intervention and without the current vogue of electronic monitoring that all too often only serves to impede the natural birth process, and can lead to a Cesarean section.

The moment of birth and the period of a few days shortly thereafter are the most critical and important moments in an individual's entire life. It is essential that this time be handled well to ensure the best possible outcome for the baby. So certainly the birth process should be as natural as possible.

The cord should never be cut until well after it has stopped pulsating. Immediately after delivery the baby should be given over to mom to continue the contact that is so necessary between mother and child. The placenta will usually deliver by itself and often only then should the cord be cut.

What is actually done now, however, what is the usual hospital practice, is just horrendous. It's the murder of life as Reich called it. Taking the child, handling it roughly, taking it away from mother, putting silver nitrate which is terribly caustic and burning, into the child's eyes and then carting it off to the nursery to be bundled and stacked up with other children under harsh lights. It is just horrendous.

There are few situations that would necessitate the separation of mother and child. If mother wants to be with her baby, and is at all able to do so, they should be allowed to remain together.

The contact between the mother and child, is necessary to keep the child in energetic contact and to keep the aliveness and biological pulsation of the infant intact. If the child is separated from mother he's going to feel the separation, go off in the eyes, and become contracted, lonely, and frightened. We see that in the nursery where babies are lined up, screaming in terrible discomfort. And of course, baby can very quickly give up, withdraw, and go out of contact. Therein lie the seeds for schizophrenia, depression, withdrawal and the other psychological or medical illnesses that will follow through the individual's life.

The mother and child should be together as long as they can. If a woman must undergo a hospital birth, the only purpose should be giving birth, then the mother should check out as quickly as everything is determined to be okay with her and with the baby -- preferably that that would be within hours after the delivery.