Women are becoming ‘too scared to give birth naturally’, expert claims

Women are becoming ‘too scared to give birth naturally’ and are resorting to C-sections because of horror stories on Mumsnet and bloody depictions on TV

• Helen Mirren claimed videos of women giving birth scared her off motherhood
• Known as tocophobia, the fear affects up to 14% of all pregnant women
• Childbirth is safer than ever before, with just 0.01% of women dying 

• e-mail

29

View
comments

Women are becoming increasingly terrified of giving birth – and frightening stories shared on social media may be playing a part, according to leading researchers.

Mothers sharing their ‘horror stories’ of labour and bloody depictions of childbirth on TV and film have also ‘triggered’ a morbid fear of labour in some women.

The actress Helen Mirren has identified as a tocophobic – saying that watching a graphic video of a woman giving birth scared her so much she never wanted to be a mother.

Tocophobia is increasingly a problem, affecting up to 14 per cent of all pregnant women, according to research.

This is despite childbirth being safer than ever before – with just 0.01 per cent of mothers dying in or immediately after labour.

Women are becoming increasingly terrified of giving birth – and frightening stories shared on social media may be playing a part, according to leading researchers (stock)

Rather than pregnancy being a joyful time, for women with tocophobia, childbirth ‘affects daily functioning and overshadows one’s pregnancy.’

It causes sufferers to experience fear, panic, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, trembling – and often request Caesarean sections as the solution.

In some cases women also request abortion or shun sex due to a fear of pregnancy.

• Three people died of breast cancer after they all caught it… Supplements: What they do and who should take them (the… Ad Feature Health chiefs issue urgent monkeypox warning to doctors and… ‘Don’t cry Mom, I’ll beat it again’: Brave eight-year-old…

Share this article

Katriona Jones, a senior research fellow and lecturer in maternal health at Hull University, was asked to investigate how best to treat women suffering from the condition by the local NHS perinatal mental health service team, to help understand why women were requesting Caesarean sections out of a ‘fear of childbirth’.

She told the British Science Festival in Hull that one of the factors fuelling the fear are websites such as Mumsnet and other social media, as well as TV depictions such as Call the Midwife.

She said: ‘It feels like there’s an element of it in social media. If you go online and go on any Mumsnet forums there are women telling stories of childbirth and it was terrible and it was a bloodbath. That can be quite frightening for women.’ 

Fear of labour, known as tocophobia, causes sufferers to experience fear, panic, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, trembling – and often request C-sections (stock)

She added people ‘have a tendency to like things that ramp up how dramatic childbirth can be and how difficult it can be. That can be a bit concerning sometimes.

WHAT ARE THE MEDICAL REASONS FOR A CAESAREAN?

There are various reasons why a doctor may recommend that you have a caesarean section instead of giving birth vaginally.

If you had complications in a previous pregnancy or birth, or in your current pregnancy, you may be advised to have what’s called a planned or elective caesarean, or a planned repeat caesarean.

If you were planning to give birth vaginally, but complications during labour or birth mean that you’re advised to give birth by caesarean, you’ll have what’s called an unplanned or emergency caesarean. 

Here are some reasons why doctors may opt for a planned or emergency caesarean, rather than a vaginal birth:

• You’ve already had at least one caesarean section.
• Your baby is in a bottom-down, or breech, position.
• Your baby is in a sideways (transverse) position, or keeps changing its position (unstable lie).
• You have a low-lying placenta (placenta praevia).
• You have a medical condition, such as heart disease or diabetes.
• You have lost a baby in the past, either before or during labour.
• You’re expecting twins or more.
• Your baby is not growing as well as it should be in your womb.
• You have severe pre-eclampsia or eclampsia, making it dangerous to delay the birth.

Source: BabyCentre 

‘So you can be drawn to reading about that rather than women who give birth in a beautiful calm situation in a birthing pool or give birth at home surrounded by family.’ 

As an example of someone being put off childbirth by its depiction, she cited Helen Mirren.

‘Helen Mirren was shown a sex education video that horrified her so much she decided to never have children.’ 

She said she that in terms of ‘maternal mortality it’s never been safer’ for women to give birth, but that giving birth was still a scary, life changing event.

Treatments for the phobia include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and gradual exposure to images of different aspects of giving birth.

Maeve O’Connell, of University College Cork, has carried out research showing that around 14 per cent of women suffer tocophobia and that it is increasing in prevalence.

Women with anxious personalities and those lacking social support are more likely to suffer from it.

She said: ‘The rise is likely due to the fact that it is now being looked at and reported in the last 35 years or so, whereas it was previously unrecognised as an issue.’

Justine Roberts, Mumsnet founder and CEO said: ‘Mumsnet users are, in the main, impatient with the idea that adult women aren’t entitled to discover the truth about the full spectrum of birth experiences, from the blissful to the terrifying.

‘Understandably, a great deal of NHS messaging about labour focuses on the positive, but the downside of this is that mothers who have traumatic experiences feel, in retrospect, that they were given a deeply partial account: one of the most common complaints we see on this topic is “Why on earth didn’t anyone tell me the truth about how bad it could be?’’ 

Source: Read Full Article