Home Birth is a Safe Option for Healthy Low-Risk Women

In many parts of the world women give birth at home out of necessity for lack of access to a maternity care facility, for economic reasons, or because their cultural traditions have always valued home birth as a social and spiritual life event. In countries where hospital births are the norm, some mothers prefer the privacy, comfort, freedom of movement, and continuity of care that a home birth provides. There is no evidence that hospital birth is safer than home birth for healthy low-risk women.

Women who choose a home birth and the care providers that support them view pregnancy and birth as a normal physiological process in which routine medical interventions are unnecessary. Should a medical complication develop, the use of interventions should be evidence-based. The CIMS Expert Work Group found extensive evidence that supports the safety of home birth. With a home birth, mothers are much less likely to be exposed to medical interventions such as induction of labor, use of IV fluids, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, or amniotomy (breaking the bag of waters). They are also less likely to suffer from infection requiring the use of antibiotics. Perinatal outcomes are similar to planned hospital birth. Without compromising the health and well being of mothers and babies, home birth with maternity care professionals who follow the midwifery model of care also substantially reduces the odds of needing a cesarean section.

Planned home birth is as safe as planned hospital birth for similar groups of women when four important criteria are in place:

  1. Pregnant women are low risk.
  2. Home was chosen as the intended place for birth.
  3. The primary care provider is qualified according to professional licensing standards and trained to assist at home births.
  4. A collaborative relationship with consulting physicians and a medical center exist, with clear guidelines for continuity of care should a complication arise where the mother or baby would benefit from the transfer.

Home birth gives women more freedom to shape their birth environment but also requires them to take more responsibility for their own care. Women who choose to give birth at home are usually ready to take more responsibility for their care during pregnancy as well as for labor and birth. They are also willing to forgo narcotics or an epidural for pain relief. The World Health Organization recommends that healthy low-risk pregnant women should give birth where they feel safe.

To find out more about a home birth with a midwife visit MANA; ACNM; and Childbirth Connection.

Each Wednesday, our Birth & Parenting News blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.

Posted by Patty Brennan on December 21, 2011 • Filed under Birth & Parenting News
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