Advisory Board

Casilda Rodrigañez

Writer and researcher. Author of La represión del deseo materno y la génesis del estado de sumisión inconsciente (The repression of the maternal desire and the genesis of the state of unconscious submission), El asalto de Hades (The assault on Hades) and Pariremos con placer (We will give birth with pleasure), among other writings.

“Changing the paradigm of motherhood is equivalent to changing civilization. This is about changing the patriarchal civilization for another that is based on the welfare of the human being. The task is gigantic but thrilling.”

Casilda Rodrigañez (website)

María Jesús Blazquez

Biologist, leading professor at a Secondary School for 38 years. Co-founder of the “Vía Láctea” mothers Association (Milky Way) and the “Other Biology” Collective. She has been a coordinator of Health Educational Projects. Director of the Summer Courses about Maternity (2004-2009), organized by the University of Zaragoza in Jaca. She has also collaborated in the National Strategy for Assistance at Normal Childbirth in the National System 2007, promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Health. Author of several educational guides and «El Instituto. Huellas y Semillas» (“School. Footprints and Seeds)

Blog María Jesús

Isabel Espiga

Nurse, Diploma in Public Health and Gender studies. Mother of Valvanera and Alberto, two frustrated births. Retired from bureaucracy but active in important causes for women and infants.

In 33 years of work in the Spanish Ministry of Health, I have come to count many more ministers than their usual three years period, and suffered countless high-ranking officials and their trusted staff. It has not been an easy job, nor recognized, nor well paid. I am proud to say that I have been a public servant at the service of the citizens, not the politicians who came and went. I would especially point out that I have promoted actions against the interests of the tobacco industry and the drafting of the Law. I have also been part of the Women’s Health Observatory (Observatorio de Salud de las Mujeres, one of the departments of the Health Ministery) and its actions to make the gender perspective more visible. And most importantly, the start-up and development of the National Strategy for Assistance at Normal Childbirth in the National System 2007, as institutional coordinator for the last ten years; I have intensely enjoyed this task, accompanied by great professionals from all the Autonomous Regions and the different disciplines, among them Ibone Olza and Isabel Fernández del Castillo, whom I thank for their teachings, dedication and complicity.

Cecilia Pérez Mínguez

Doctor in Psychology, Psychoanalyst. She has developed her experience as a child therapist and researcher of childhoodboth both in consultation and in family homes, hospitals and orphanages, as well as seminars and publications in specialized journals such as: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Learning, Educational Psychology, Desemvolupament Infantil i Atençió Precoç (Child Development and Early Care).

Specialized in highlighting the relevance of the first human interactions, she creates a model of observation and evaluation of these interactions whose results were scientifically proven in her doctoral thesis. Based on this observational model, she creates the Guided Observation Program (Programa de Observación Guiada, POG), as a therapeutic tool to be applied in different contexts (families, hospitals, orphanages) with relevant results for children at risk.

Author of the book “No decía palabras” (He did not say any words) (La casita de paz editions)

Montserrat Catalán

Medical doctor by the University of Barcelona. Gynecologist by the University of Havana (Cuba). Co-founder of “Migjorn Casa de Naixements” (The first free standing Birthcenter in Spain).

I learned throughout my life, especially through my children and working in Havana, in Titània-Tascó (a Barcelona based midwife group attending homebirths), in the maternity clinic Aquario, in the “Nacer en Casa” (Born at home) association, together with the companions of “La mujer cíclica” and many more …

In Migjorn I have seen women offer their body to life so that life could emerge from it. I have seen them happy, oozing self-esteem through all the pores of their skin. I have also seen them struggling to transform their frustrated desires. I have had the great privilege of being able to experience the gaze of many newborns and feel.

From Migjorn we have developed an educational program for schools called “This pending subject called life”, divided into three sections: “Bring birth into schools”, “Celebrating the arrival of fertility in the classroom”, “Neurosciences and love”, with contents acording to different ages, families and teachers. In 2010, during the 10th anniversary of Migjorn Birthhouse, we promoted the edition of the book “Parir, néixer i créixer” (To birth, to be born and to grow up) (Icaria editions). Currently from the association we promote productions and activities that contribute to fill the collective imagination from childhood on with values, trust and respect, avoiding silences, taboos and fears that still surround the essential themes of life, from birth to death, going through all stages. We published productions such as “9 Món, acompanyant Migjorn” (9 months, accompaniment Migjorn) or “Nuevo Mundo, acompañando Migjorn” (New World, accompanying Migjorn).

I have special interest in leaving seeds of knowledge and experience that life and the profession have supplied me with.

José María Paricio, MD PhD

Pediatrician. President of APILAM, Association for the scientific and cultural promotion of Breastfeeding. Founder and coordinator of the websites www.e-lactancia.org and www.telasmos.org. IBFAN collaborator in 2017. Member of the Health Advisory Board of La Leche League Int. since 2017 and member of the Breastfeeding Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (2000-2013). He has collaborated with the spanish Ministry of Health in the Clinical Guideline on Breastfeeding (2017), the National Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health (2011) and the Clinical Guideline for Normal Childbirth Attention (2010).

Founder and president of the first Committee for the Humanization of Care at Gandia Hospital (Valencia) in 1984. Head of the Pediatric department for 20 years at the Marina Alta Hospital in Alicante, third hospital in Spain to obtain the IHAN accreditation (Baby-friendly hospital) from WHO/ UNICEF and member of the Neonatal Transport team of the province of Alicante for 15 years.

Author of the book Tu eres la mejor madre del mundo (You are the best mother in the world), 52 scientific articles, 301 oral presentations and 16 book chapters. Teacher in courses and speaker at conferences and congresses.

He is passionate about breastfeeding and about safety among women’s wisdom.

Casilda Velasco

Edith Liberman