Benefits of Water Birth

For the baby
Childbirth can be a strenuous, and possibly disturbing, experience for the baby. Properly heated water helps to ease the transition from the birth canal to the outside world because the warm liquid resembles the familiar intra-uterine environment, and softens light, colors and noises.


To the mother

Pain Management
Harper reports that water birth is an effective form of pain management during labor and delivery (Harper 2000). Water birth is a form of hydrotherapy which, in studies, has been shown to be an effective form or pain management for a variety of conditions especially lower back pain (a common complaint of women in labor)[citation needed]. In an appraisal of 17 randomized trials, two controlled studies, 12 cohort studies, and two case reports, it was concluded that there was a definite "benefit from hydrotherapy in pain, function, self-efficacy and affect, joint mobility, strength, and balance, particularly among older adults, subjects with rheumatic conditions and chronic low back pain," (Geytenbeek 2002). When compared with conventional pain management techniques for labor and delivery (e.g. anaesthesia and narcotics) hydrotherapy is also possibly a safer alternative. In studies, epidural anaesthesia (EDA), is correlated with an increased rate of instrumental (e.g. forceps in childbirth) delivery rates and also caesarean section rates (Ros et al. 2007). Full immersion in water promotes physiological responses in the mother that reduce pain including a redistribution of blood volume, which stimulates the release of oxytocin and vasopressin (Katz 1990), the latter which also increases oxytocin blood levels (Odent 1998). The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews has found that "the statistically significant reduction in maternal perception of pain and in the rate of epidural analgesia suggest that water immersion during the first stage of labour is beneficial for some women. No evidence was found that this benefit was associated with poorer outcomes for babies or longer labours."