We are really excited about our first retreat on September 18th-20th at The Anantara Resort and Spa on The Palm - Dubai. We'd love for you to come and meet us to find out more about birth in the UAE and what we do here at Birth Zone. So we have arranged a lovely afternoon for you to come and view a film about birth, meet other parents and parents-to-be over drinks and nibbles. You will also have the wonderful opportunity to discuss any of your niggling questions with the pane

As is Birth Zone's usual way of looking at things, if you strip away all of the modern/social/cultural teachings and expectations, things make much more sense. Babies are infant mammals. Infant mammals are very smart and have great survival instincts. One of the instincts that most mammals are born with is not to soil themselves. Elimination Communication works from the premise that babies do not WANT to soil themselves and that we actually TEACH babies to use nappies.

As a Woman, a Mother and a Doula, I am always fascinated to learn more about the subtle nuances of our female bodies and the process of birth. I had read about the effects of date consumption when I was pregnant, but at that time I was not familiar with the fruit and had assumed that I would not like it. I am sure this stemmed from childhood and I had simply not revisited it in adulthood. Moving to the Middle East has done a wonderful job of opening me up to new experiences.

We are proud to announce that Victoria has joined the editorial team at Mother, Baby and Child Magazine! Birth Zone will now be writing on a monthly basis, covering a range of birth and parenting topics. Our aim is to offer gentle and instinctive perspectives and to support the concepts with research and evidence based information. If you have any topics that you would like us to look in to, or any experiences that have affected you, contact us at - info@birthzone.ae If you l

When we face challenges as parents, sometimes we look outside of ourselves to other parents, our families or friends for a guide to how we 'should' deal with the situation. Some people have very strong opinions about how undesirable behaviour should be tackled and will advocate reciprocal violence, corporal punishment or shaming. It can be very difficult not to feel corralled into utilising these techniques if many others around you agree and you are desperate for things to