Water births are safe for both mother and baby, study says
Water births do not increase the risk of complications for mother or baby, NHS research shows.
Women with low-risk pregnancies are as likely to have a healthy birth in a supervised pool as women in bed, they found.
Experts say this could impact thousands of women each year who use birthing pools as a form of pain relief during childbirth.
The study analyzed more than 87,000 intrapartum records using a pool across 26 NHS organizations in England and Wales between 2015 and 2022.
Researchers examined the number of infant deaths, the severe tears women suffered during childbirth, as well as the number of babies who required antibiotics or help breathing in a neonatal unit after birth.
Researchers claim that the risks of complications were no higher in water births compared to non-water births
In Britain, around 60,000 women use a birth pool or tub every year for pain relief during childbirth, but some midwives and doctors were concerned that water birth could pose additional risks.
But the new research, published in the obstetrics and gynecology journal BJOG, found these were no higher in water births compared to water births.
Julia Sanders, professor of clinical obstetrics at Cardiff University, said: ‘There are reports that babies can become seriously ill, or even die, after a water birth, and that mothers are more likely to experience severe tearing or heavy blood loss.
‘We wanted to determine whether water births with NHS midwives are as safe as water birth for women and their babies at low risk of complications.’
The analysis found that one in 20 mothers who experienced a serious tear for the first time, compared to one in 100 mothers who had a second, third or fourth baby.
Three in 100 babies needed antibiotics or help breathing, while deaths were rare: seven were recorded in the water-born group, compared with six among those who delivered outside the water.
The C-section rate was also low: less than 6 percent for new mothers and less than 1 percent for mothers having their second, third or fourth babies.
Professor Sanders said the findings scientifically show that giving birth in water was ‘not associated with an increase in risk to mother and baby’.
Peter Brocklehurst, Emeritus Professor of Women’s Health at the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, said: ‘Given that 10 per cent of women use water immersion for pain relief during childbirth, the results of this study will have implications for thousands of women every year . Britain and many more around the world, where water immersion during childbirth is common.”
Professor Chris Gale, a neonatologist at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust in London, added: ‘Many paediatricians and neonatologists are concerned that water births pose additional risks to babies, but the study found compelling evidence that this is the case for women with an uncomplicated pregnancy is like this. is not the case.’