Call to stop using the phrase ‘normal birth’
University of Sydney academics say using the term means some women are unprepared for birth trauma
It’s time to ditch the term ‘normal birth’ as it can leave women unprepared for postpartum events such as urinary incontinence, say University of Sydney academics.
The problem is that the definition of normal birth, put forward by the WHO and some state-based birth policies, fails to acknowledge the possibility of birth trauma, they argue.
Normal birth is “promoted, protected and romanticised”, while women are kept in the dark about possible risks and “told not to worry”, they write in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
They point to recent research showing just 33-40% of vaginal deliveries are atraumatic, which also suggests the term normal birth may be “outdated” and “possibly inappropriate”.
