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Birth Trauma

Unfortunately, childbirth doesn’t always go as we may have hoped for, or expected. When things don’t go to plan at the birth this leaves many parents feeling depleted, disappointed and in need of support.

For many women the experience of childbirth can be traumatising; leading to long lasting effects both physically and psychologically. Regardless of the type of delivery or the eventual outcome, many women report that their birth experience was distressing or traumatic. Birth can be perceived as traumatic if the woman felt intense emotional reactions like fear, horror or helplessness during the labour. This, along with a trauma history can increase the risk that a woman could carry the emotional scars of childbirth long after the baby is born, and the physical wounds have healed.

While each women’s story is unique, there are some common themes that seem to emerge when we look at birthing stories. The themes include:

Feeling uncared for- during labour some mothers feel that they were either abandoned, unsupported or in some cases even ignored by health professionals or their family.
Feeling uninformed- in many cases women feel that things happened to them and they were not communicated with effectively to make informed choices.
Feeling powerless- especially when there has been a lot of medical intervention, many mothers feel that they had no control over what happened during the birth.
Feeling discarded- some women report that while the focus was on the baby, the mother’s own needs were not met during the labour

There can be serious consequences for mothers who have a traumatic birth experience with many going on to develop postnatal mental health issues. Outcomes could include: