Water immersion during labour cuts the use of epidurals and injected opioids by more than 80% compared with conventional births, a rigorous review of the literature shows.

Women who birth in water are also more likely to have an intact perineum postpartum and be satisfied with their choice of delivery, according to US and UK researchers.

“This review endorses previous reviews showing clear benefits resulting from intrapartum water immersion for healthy women and their newborns,” they reported in BMJ Open.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 36 studies, the authors used data from more than 157,000 women to evaluate the effect of the “low-tech intervention” of water immersion on intrapartum interventions as well as maternal and neonatal outcomes.