Elisabeth Dorothea Bing (née Koenigsberger; 8 July 1914 – 15 May 2015) was a German physical therapist, co-founder of Lamaze International, and proponent of natural childbirth.
Her hospital work there made her interested in natural childbirth, and she taught it to parents in the United States after she moved there in 1949.
To promote natural childbirth methods, she co-founded the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics (now Lamaze International), made several TV appearances and radio broadcasts, and wrote several books on the subject.
[3] Her family were of Jewish descent, but converted to Protestantism years before her birth, and, on sensing danger with the rise of Nazi Germany, they decided to leave the country.
At the time, standard childbirth procedures involved giving mothers large amounts of medication, and keeping them in hospital for ten days after they gave birth.
[3] After talking about her experiences at the hospital with one of her part-time private patients, she learned of Grantly Dick-Read's book Natural Childbirth.
She was unable to meet Read or other like-minded individuals because of the outbreak of World War II, so she taught herself as much as she could about obstetrics.