A new trend in which more and more women are choosing to give birth at home without medical assistance has raised strong concerns among doctors and healthcare professionals. It reports Norwegian NRK. The phenomenon, which spreads via social media and is called “freebirth” or “naturalbirth”, is considered extremely risky for both mothers and children.
The trend of giving birth at home without a midwife or doctor has taken hold after women share their experiences on social media, encouraging others to do the same. The midwife Helen Marit Torvik expresses strong concern about the development:
– What we see is a trend that we are concerned about, she says and points to the potential risks for both the mother and the child, she says in an interview with NRK.
According to reports, it is not only about low-risk births, but also about high-risk births where medical assistance is crucial. The Norwegian Association of Midwives NSF warns that this means a high risk of complications that can have serious consequences.
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Ideological beliefs drive the trend
Many of the women who follow this trend have a strong belief that it is more “natural” to give birth at home without assistance. They believe that midwives and doctors often use medical interventions that are not necessary, says Helen Marit Torvik.
– The women have a very extreme idea that pregnancy and childbirth are natural. They believe that midwives and doctors use medicines and measures unnecessarily, she explains.
There are also women who have had traumatic experiences in previous hospital births, which has made them want to avoid medical assistance altogether. Despite understanding these feelings, the healthcare system warns that an unassisted home birth can be life-threatening.
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Strong warnings from healthcare
The trend of giving birth at home is not entirely new. News24 wrote last year about the Swedish Influencer Rachel Brathénbetter known by her Instagram name “yoga_girl” where she has over two million followers. She has taken to social media several times to talk about her own home birth.
– I really believe that physiological birth, i.e. that the body is allowed to do what the body does on its own, works best when you are in your safest environment, she says in a post where she talks about her birth.
Professor at OsloMet, Ellen Blixhas been a midwife for several decades. She believes that free births have occurred throughout her working life, but that it is new that there is an ideology around it.
– It is of course worrying if many women opt out of all pregnancy and childbirth care, and I would not recommend anyone to do that. However, they must not refuse their child medical help, says Ellen Blix to NRK.
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