Women are choosing a homebirth because they see hospitals as a far riskier place to have a baby, new Australian research suggests.
A survey of women, who birthed ‘outside the system’ either through a freebirth without a midwife, or through an attended homebirth despite having medically defined risk factors, found that they perceived the risks of birth in hospital differently to most women.
According to the study (link) in Midwifery (online Jan 31), the women thought that hospitals were the most likely place they would be exposed to complications through interventions and interruptions in the birth process, by being given medication or “unnecessary” tests.
They felt that by staying away from the hospital they...
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