Francesca Naish - The Natural Way to Better Babies

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The Natural Way to Better Babies

ePub ISBN 9781742742342
Kindle ISBN 9781742742359

The information provided in this book is intended for general
information and guidance only, and should not be used as a substitute
for consulting a qualified health practitioner. Neither the authors nor
Random House Australia Pty Ltd can accept responsibility for your
health or any side-effects of treatments described in this book.

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First published in 1996

Copyright Francesca Naish and Janette Roberts 1996

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National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Naish, Francesca.
The natural way to better babies.
Includes index.
ISBN 978 1 74 274 234 2

Francesca Naish was born in England in 1946. She studied mathematics at Sussex University, but after arrival in Australia, when in her late twenties, established a Natural Birth Control practice in Paddington, Sydney. This grew into The Village Healing and Growth Centre, one of the first holistic health-care practices in Australia. Since 1994 she has trained health professionals in the use of her unique Natural Fertility Management techniques. In 1995, after 20 years in clinical practice, she established the Jocelyn Centre in Woollahra, Sydney. This is the first clinic in Australia to specialise in natural methods for fertility management, reproductive health and preconception care. Francesca is a qualified naturopath, herbalist and hypnotherapist. She writes extensively for the press, appears regularly on radio and television and is sought after as a public speaker and lecturer. She also pioneered the teaching in Australia of natural vision improvement. She has written two previous books TheLunarCycle (1989) and NaturalFertility (1991). Francesca lives in Bondi with her family.

Janette Roberts was born in Sydney in 1947. She graduated with an Honours Degree in Pharmacy from Sydney University in 1968.

During the next 20 years she worked in London and then in Sydney as a community pharmacist. She received a postgraduate diploma in clinical nutrition in 1983. Janette retired from her full-time pharmacy career before the birth of her first child in 1985 and since then she has been a stay-at-home mother. In 1987 she became the Australian secretary of Foresightthe Association for the Promotion of Preconception Care. To further the work of the Association she has distributed regular newsletters, appeared on radio and television, lectured to health professionals and written numerous articles on the benefits of preconception care. BetterBabies is her first book. Janette lives in Birchgrove with her partner and their two sons.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F RANCESCAS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledging the sources of the seeds of inspiration, their germination into ideas, and then the (sometimes almost uncontrollable) growth of these ideas into a book, is an almost impossible task. For me, this book is the outcome of 20 years in clinical practice and all that this involves. Those who have been influential over this time and helped my understanding of, and ability to treat, the numerous facets of reproductive health are innumerable, so before I begin, my heartfelt thanks to all those who have ever worked with, and contributed to, the areas that we cover in this book. No author, or therapist, can start from scratch. We all build on each others work and hopefully our book is just another step on the way, for others to take further.

There are, however, some particular thanks duefirstly to all those at the Village Healing and Growth Centre, one of Sydneys first holistic health centres, which grew around my practice and which helped my practice grow. My second home and family for 20 years, this has now evolved into the Jocelyn Centre for Natural Fertility Management and Holistic Medicine. My team of colleagues has given me enormous support, without which I could never have stretched my working days to meet the needs of this book. Special thanks go to Jane Bennett for her contributions on yoga and in many other areas, to Vicki Turner for her expertise and many suggestions, to Miriam Camara and Sally Charles for advice on acupressure points, to Jane Zabrana for her medical knowledge, to Sarah Parsons and Karina Quinlan for typing my incomprehensible scrawl (being a Luddite my first draft is always handwritten) and to Anna Brennan, Veronica Sumegi and Pamela Williams for their holiday homes to work in (some day Ill be back for a holiday).

If it werent for my clients, of course, I would not have been spurred ever onwards to learn what they, and I, needed to know, and if they (the majority of them anyway) had not been such delightful people, I might not have done it with such enthusiasm.

Many of those whose work I have drawn on were acknowledged in my previous book, NaturalFertility, but there has been one particularly important influence since then. This is the work of Foresight, the British Medical Association for the Promotion of Preconception Care. Their findings have brought a new dimension and legitimacy to my work which, funded as it is only by my own earnings in practice, has of necessity been focused more towards clinical practice than research and evaluation. To my co-author, Jan Roberts, the Australian secretary of this association, I owe a huge debt. Her skills and knowledge, through her newsletters, were invaluable to me well before we met, and our working relationship while writing BetterBabies has been a delight. With a life already full to overflowing, without her I could never have taken on this project. She has done much more than her share of the legwork for which I am eternally grateful.

Further thanks go to Margaret Sullivan of Random House, for persuading me to write the book in the first place, and for her patience in being handed a manuscript which was twice as long as she wanted. Thanks also to Julia Cain, our editor, for helping us to reduce it in ways which still left it intact, and for her meticulous care with the text. My dear friend Jacqueline Bateman has once again contributed beautiful illustrations to add to the great work done by Yolande Gray our designer, and Anna Warren who produced the text diagrams and illustrations. Thanks also to our proofreader, Ella Martin, and our indexer, Barbara Crighton.