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Male midwife: women should endure labour pains

Marie Claire Health News: Mother and baby Rex Features

The pain involved in a childbirth without modern drugs serves a purpose and more women should go through it in order to prepare themselves for the responsibility of bringing up a baby, according to senior midwife, Dr Denis Walsh.

In an article for the journal Evidence Based Midwifery, published by the Royal College of Midwives, Dr Walsh argues that normal birth is in danger of being ‘effectively anaesthetised by the epidural epidemic.’

Dr Walsh, an associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, said: ‘Pain in labour is a purposeful, useful thing, which has quite a number of benefits, such as preparing a mother for the responsibility of nurturing a newborn baby.’
 
He says that some women these days, ‘just don't fancy’ the pain of childbirth, and that a widespread 'antipathy to childbirth pain' has emerged in the past 20 years with almost all hospitals now offering epidurals on demand as a result.

Instead, he argues, the NHS should take a 'working with pain' approach and encourage women to try natural methods such as yoga, hypnosis, massage, hydrotherapy and birthing pools to  alleviate the pain.

Official figures show that the number of mothers receiving an epidural has soared from 17 per cent in 1990 to 33 per cent in 2008.

Dr Walsh said 20 per cent of epidurals are given to women who do not need them and that 'Emerging evidence [shows] that normal labour and birth primes the bonding areas of a mother's brain better than caesarean or pain-free birth'.

However many doctors think he is exaggerating. Dr Justin Clark, a senior obstetrician and gynaecologist at Birmingham Women's Hospital, rejected Dr Walsh's claims, telling the Telegraph: ‘Epidurals  aren't overused. In the main they're a good thing and almost always necessary... It would be wrong to suggest that modern women are somehow less stoical than in the past.’

And Cathy Warwick, the Royal College of Midwifery's general secretary, said that it was the lack of one-to-one personal care from a midwife, that was causing mothers to be to create the 'unnecessarily high' incidence of epidurals.

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Monday 13 July 2009


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Perhaps when a man gives birth I will listen to his opinion on pain in labour.
Comment by Donna Hall on July 13 11:11

It would be a man with this opinion wouldn't it! I think it's completely up to the woman giving birth as to how she wants to do it. An epidural can speed up dilation, and mean it's less likely they'll have to have a c-section due to unprogressive labour! When he's given birth, then he can decide whether pain relief is overused.
Comment by Rachel on July 13 15:26

I am the deputy editor of Evidence Based Midwifery and I would just like to clarify that the paper has not yet been published, it has been submitted for publication.
Comment by Maura O'Malley on July 14 17:42

It would be a man? Well, I'm a woman who has given birth to 7 babies. Perhaps my opinion will carry more weight. I agree 110% with Dr. Walsh. I've had 2 hospital vaginal births that "required" the use of a form of spinal anesthesia (they threatened me with a section if I did not comply). I had one hospital birth in which I used IV meds for pain. Perhaps if my RN had encouraged me to walk or shower, I would have done well without it. After those three births, I had a c-section for unfavorable position of twins. I'd had enough of this business and so chose home birth for my next two babies. The first of those two was a quick 3 hour labor that was no problem without pain meds. The next was a 52 hour nightmare that I was able to endure without any drugs and still have at home. I've done the whole spectrum and will stand by my very stong opinion that women NEED to FEEL labor.
Comment by Stacey on July 24 18:26

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