‘Ignorant and life-threatening’: experts condemn Free Birth Society misinformation | Childbirth

The Free Birth Foundation (FBS) is a multimillion-dollar organization that promotes the idea of ​​women giving birth without medical assistance.

It’s run by two former doulas turned social media influencers: Emilee Saldaya and Yolande Norris-Clark. Neither has midwifery or medical training, but they claim to have extensive experience attending other women’s births.

Thanks to its successful podcast, Instagram account, dedicated online community, and online schools, FBS has gained a global following. An investigation by the Guardian found that FBS content is linked to infant deaths and serious maternal harm worldwide.

FBS did not respond to requests for comment. Saldaya following the publication of the Guardian’s investigation He released a statement on Instagram He criticizes “propaganda in mainstream news.” “This is what it means to be disruptive,” he said. “They will try to discredit you, they will lie about you, they will try to silence what they do not understand.”

An FBS disclaimer published in May said the content was for “educational and informational” purposes and was not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. “Consult your healthcare provider for medical advice,” he added.

Below, four medical experts respond to FBS’s claims about pregnancy and birth.

1. Norris-Clark told students enrolling at FBS’s MatriBirth Midwifery Institute (MMI) in 2025, while spaying:Out of respect for his customers, the surgical scissors used to cut the umbilical cords were there. Even if you used an “old rusty fork” there was no risk of infection. “I don’t believe in germ theory,” he said, “But even if contamination were real… The chance of anything happening is 0%.”
   Soo Downe, a midwife and professor at the University of Lancashire, said this was very dangerous advice. He said many babies die each year from sepsis in low-income countries after their cords are cut with dirty tools or sealed with substances such as used motor oil or non-sterile Vaseline.

2. In 2024, I was asked by an MMI student what to do if remnants of the placenta remain in a woman’s body days after giving birth.She gave birth and sheSaldaya suggested that a husband or friend would be better suited to eliminate them, rather than “some random pervert in the hospital”. “I’d be like: ‘Johnny, my husband, you’re going diving.’”
   That’s dangerous, said Mary Littlefield, a Texas home birth midwife with 25 years of experience. He said hand extraction is not a “casual skill” that anyone can achieve; It carried a number of risks such as infection, puncture and bleeding. Such a procedure should be carried out by a qualified professional, she said, adding: The idea that a postpartum fever can be ignored is “ignorant and life-threatening”.

3. Saldaya told those who listened to the FBS podcast last year that some babies came out “screaming and pink” but the others The transition to breathing took five minutes or more. He said he’s heard of babies taking as long as 10 or 15 minutes to breathe.
   Downe said it’s dangerous to suggest that it’s OK to leave a baby for 15 minutes without intervention. If the baby isn’t breathing within a minute, it’s time to resuscitate, he said. If the baby was still not breathing after five minutes, long-term neurological damage was likely.

4. During the 2024 MMI module (renamed MatriBirth Mentor Institute in recent months)), Norris-Clark said her son was born “completely white, limp and lifeless” but did not consider resuscitating him. In his 2023 book Portal, he described medical resuscitation as a “form of sabotage.” Appearing on the Alec Zeck podcast in 2024, Saldaya said she would never resuscitate a baby while attending a birth and that doing so would be “cuckoo bananas.”
   Dr. D., an associate professor of nursing at Yale who specializes in midwifery. Less than 1 percent of babies require extensive resuscitation, such as chest compressions, to breathe at birth, Michelle Telfer said. However, about 15% required some form of assistance to breathe on their own, such as bag and mask ventilation or oral suction. These interventions are life-saving and “brain-protective,” he said.

5. Saldaya said in a module of The Complete Guide to Freebirth, which FBS has been selling since 2018, that she couldn’t imagine a scenario in which she would seek medical attention for a urinary tract or kidney infection “because I would never take antibiotics while pregnant.” He said he felt outweighed by the risk of using antibiotics.was it of any use?
   If left untreated, urinary tract or kidney infections can seriously harm the mother and baby, for example leading to premature birth, low birth weight and even sepsis. Downe said it was dangerous to recommend women should never use antibiotics and that he believed antibiotics were overused in maternity care, but they could save lives when there was a real need.

6. Saldaya told FBS podcast listeners in 2024: It was safe to deliver babies at home outside the time frame that medical guidance generally recommendsed (between 38 and 42 weeks). HE He said he knew “a lot” of babies People who are born at home as early as 33 weeks and “survive and thrive” without the need for any medical intervention.
   A baby born at 33 weeks may not survive without immediate and intensive medical support. An out-of-hospital birth before 36 weeks can cause neurological damage or neonatal death due to lack of lung maturity, Littlefield said.

7. In The Complete Guide to Free Birth, Saldaya He told students not to worry about babies who are “born blue” because “it may seem scary…a blue baby is actually an oxygenated baby!”
   Kenga Sivarajah, chief obstetrician at King’s College hospital in London, said this was wrong; A blue baby may experience oxygen deprivation. Telfer agreed, warning that if a baby is born blue and no intervention is given, there is a high risk of suffocation and organ damage, including the brain. (Blue hands and feet are usually nothing to worry about, but babies showing these signs should be monitored closely.)

8. In a module of the Complete Guide to Free Birth, Saldaya said: who are the mothers If she is bleeding a lot and dizzy after birth, she should clamp the umbilical cord, cut a small piece from the end, and put it in her mouth to absorb the hormones. “That sounds disgusting,” he said he said but It may work to “stop the bleeding”.
   Experts said there was no evidence to support this. Telfer said this was dangerous advice that was “totally floating around.” He said there was no bio-available hormone in the cord and it would not help the bleeding at all.