He was involved in a number of "firsts", among which the most frequently cited occurred in 1960 when he used blood gas analyses to assess the effectiveness of resuscitation procedures in respect of new-born infants.

In 1961 Saling teamed up with K. Damaschke to develop a high-speed approach to testing for perinatal blood-oxygen levels and foetal blood analysis.

While still in the final phase of his training period he had applied his hands-on craft skills to constructing a simple machine that could both blow oxygen into the lungs of new-born infants and suck out mucus from their breathing systems.

His radical attitudes in this respect were on public display in his first book "Das Kind im Bereich der Geburtshilfe" (loosely, "The Child in the context of obstetrics"): he was acutely conscious that "the period around an individual's birth is the most dangerous stage of life".

Saling never got weary of reiterating this truth as he expanded his teaching activities, which, according to his many fans in the field, prior generations of doctors had a tendency to ignore.

[2] In 1993 he founded the "Erich Saling Institute for Perinatal Medicine", a Nonprofit organization based in Berlin and described in its own publicity as "a supra-regional consultation center with emphasis on the prevention of preterm births .... [and contributing in a number of other ways] significantly to the improvement of prenatal care".

[14] Erich Saling repeatedly developed new methods of early problem identification and treatment procedures designed to reduced infant mortality and preterm birth levels.

[2][15] In 1958, for instance, he catheterized the aorta of a new-born infant directly following birth and developed a new method for faster placental blood transfusion with early cord cutting.

[8][17] That was also the year in which, together with his colleague U. Blücher, he came up with a device for monitoring premature labour in the home from a distance - in this case a hospital or clinic - using a telephone.

Then in 1993, shortly after his retirement from the Free University, he launched a self-care action for pregnant women keen to avoid late-stage abortions and pre-term births.

[8] Although it is to be hoped that the previous two paragraphs will provide a reasonable insight into the nature and extent of the innovations ascribed to Erich Saling, they are not intended to be comprehensive.