A Mumsnet survey shows the psychological impact of a difficult labour
affects the child's future wellbeing as well as the mother's
Joanna Moorhead
theguardian.com, Wednesday 16 October 2013 12.44 BST
'The charity Birthrights is calling for a reappraisal of how we judge a
successful birth:
no longer should it be merely about physical health, but
psychological health as well.
' Photograph: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Corbis
Listen to any group of new parents talking about their birth experience,
and here's a phrase you'll almost certainly hear. "At least," someone
will say, "the baby was all right. That's all that really matters."
That comment will come after one of the group has poured out a story that fell
very far short of ideal – a story in which she felt she was ignored, not
listened to, disempowered, neglected. A birth that typically started well, but
turned into a scary (sometimes terrifying) rollercoaster, from which the new
family was left so shaken that they were genuinely grateful that they were even
still alive.
But the fact that the mother and baby are still alive isn't the only
thing that matters. Certainly not in 2013, when birth is safer than it's ever
been: today, the risk that either you or your baby won't make it is minute. So
how come we're still setting such a low bar for our ideas of whether childbirth
was successful? And what damage is that doing to our children?
These questions are at the heart of a campaign launching today that
calls for a rethink on what matters most in childbirth in the western world in
the 21st century. Childbirth charity Birthrights is calling for a reappraisal
of how we judge a successful birth: no longer should it be merely about
physical health, but about psychological health as well. According to new
research carried out by Mumsnet for Birthrights, fewer than half of all women
in the UK get the birth they want.
The new figures, based on a survey of 1,100 Mumsnet users who have had
babies in the past three years, found only 68% of pregnant women were given a
choice about where to give birth, 31% did not feel in control of their birth
experience; 23% said they weren't given a choice about where they wanted to be
during labour, and 18% didn't think health professionals had listened to them.
A shocking 24% of women who had had instrumental births said they had not
consented to the procedure.
And does it matter? Yes it does. In fact, the body of evidence about how
much it matters is mushrooming, so that it seems almost absurd to anyone who
knows anything about children's development that we still think that a baby's
physical health at the birth is all that matters. The Mumsnet survey gives a
clue to why: most of the mothers questioned said their baby's birth affected
how they felt about themselves, and 41% felt that impact was negative (rising
to 73% in women who had had instrumental deliveries). Almost half the women
questioned thought the birth experience had affected their relationship with
their baby, and for 22% the impact was negative; again, for women who had an
instrumental delivery that proportion rose dramatically, to 59%.
The survey didn't give figures on fathers, but it's clear from other
research that the way a birth pans out affects a father's early bonding with
his child, as well as his future relationship with his partner. And all of that
is vital in providing the newborn with an environment that's as secure as
possible, because security is what every child needs in early life.
Ask any child development specialist, and they'll tell you the same
thing: the best predictor of a child's future wellbeing, future educational
attainment, future mental health and future happiness is the quality of the
bond formed between that child and his or her primary caregivers in the hours,
days, months and years after birth. When a woman begins her life as a mother
feeling low in confidence, unsure about how she feels about her child and
unhappy in herself, she won't be as able to give herself to the bonding process
as she will if she embarks on motherhood feeling in control, empowered and
validated by the experience. Give a new mother confidence, and you give her the
best possible start in the hardest job in the world – and that's the best
possible start you can give her baby, too. Give her a good birth experience,
and the road ahead is at least on a level, and maybe even downhill. Give her a
traumatic birth, and you give her a hill to climb – and, of course, she has a
baby to carry as well. Birth isn't just about two people still breathing: we're
doing the next generation a huge injustice by assuming it is.
Fuente: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/16/good-birth-experience-baby-alive-mumsnet
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