Is Water Birth Safe ? (水中生产)

Water Birth is an alternative labour approach practised mainly by the midwifes in the Western countries.

By delivering your baby inside a bath tub filled with warm water, many midwifes believe it can achieve better result then conventional approach.

The wife of a local singer who had a successful Water Birth.

The advantages of Water Birth :

1) Reduce labour pain and labour stress. Warm water is a good hydrotherapy to reduce the stress of the mother. As a result, it can reduce the need for pain killers.

2) By floating in the water, the mother can change her position and posture easier during the labour process. The water can support her spine and reduce the back pain.

3) Warm water can make the muscle in the birth tunnel more relax. It will facilitate the opening of the labour door.

The disadvantages of Water Birth:

1) Currently, Water Birth is not endorsed by professional doctor association. More scientific study is needed to make sure this method is safe.

2) Water birth is only suitable for low risk pregnancy. Those mothers with high risk pregnancy are not encouraged to use this method. For example; high blood pressure in pregnancy, twin pregnancy.

3) The baby heart beat monitoring is more difficult in Water Birth as the machine to monitor the baby heart beat is not water resistant.

4) There is small risk of water inhalation into the baby lung if the baby is not removed from water immediately after the delivery.

5) It is more difficult to estimate the blood loss in the water.

6) If complications happen during the labour process, you need to abandon the plan of water Birth immediately.