Scroll down to find out more about our water birth pools and access a wealth of information about the use of water for labour and birth
March 2022 New midwifery research and studies Water birth in Sweden – a comparative study Waterbirth in low-risk pregnancy: An exploration of women’s experiences Water birth: a national...
Right from the start we have made education an important part of who we are and what we do. Browse through the categories below or use the search engine...
"Freedom of Movement" The simple, short video has garnered over 11,000,000 views on YouTube. It shows how mothers instinctively relate to our pools and move naturally to find...
Active Birth Pools give midwives safe, practical options for dealing with emergencies. The evacuation a collapsed woman is potentially hazardous and poses risk of injury to mother and...
In 1977, a state hospital near Paris began quietly changing the way women gave birth. Obstetrician Dr Michel Odent believed that childbirth had become too medicalised and he...
The keyword that defines our approach to design is 'Active'. If we look up the definition of 'Active Birth' we get, "Childbirth during which the mother is encouraged...
I wrote this article a few years ago. It seems particularly relevant now. Recent news has highlighted the restrictive financial environment that maternity units will be expected to...
Health Times: Karen Keast Water is a life force in more ways than one - it covers more than 70 per cent of our earth and we drink it...
"Introducing a deep pool of water to the birthing room is a way to make your labour shorter, easier and more comfortable. It increases your sense of privacy...
There have been accounts of women labouring and giving birth in water mostly amongst peoples living near a source of shallow warm water such as the South Pacific...
Water birth pools play a vital role in helping mothers experience physiological labour and natural birth. Nothing helps mothers cope with pain more effectively. If mothers are not...
Hospitals in the United Kingdom have been evolving clinical guidelines for the use of water for labour and birth for over 3o years. The protocols for operational policy...
Studies have shown that upright labour positions are associated with a reduced second stage, fewer episiotomies or instrumental intervention in contrast to mothers labouring on their backs. Many...
This article first appeared in Midwifery Today, Issue 115, Autumn 2015. There are many reasons to avoid last-minute cesarean sections that are decided at a phase of real emergency....
The birth of the water baby -... In 1977, a state hospital near Paris began quietly changing the way women gave birth. Obstetrician Dr Michel Odent believed that...
August 21, 1999 should be remembered as a landmark in the history of water birth. On that day the British Medical Journal published an unprecedented study about "the perinatal...
Originally published by Jessica Vogtman: November 27, 2016 Humans have an integral relationship with the element of water. It runs through our veins, we are born of it,...
Giving birth in water is associated with a reduced risk of excessive bleeding and perineal tearing for mothers and with babies born in water being less likely to...
9 February 2015 Evidence Based Birth - Rebecca Dekker In April 2014, waterbirth—an alternative method for pain relief in which a mother gives birth in a tub of...
Milli Hill explains why more and more women, including celebrities like Maia Dunphy and Rebecca Adlington, are choosing a birth pool. More and more women are saying yes...
McKenna JA; Symon AG, (2014). Midwifery , vol 30, no 1, January 2014, e20-5. BACKGROUND: although Vaginal Birth After Caesarean section (VBAC) has been promoted successfully as one means of...
Australian College of Midwives - 2013 This position statement should be read in conjunction with the Australian College of Midwives’ (ACM) position statement for midwives caring for women...
Bridge to Health - Sian Smith When considering their birth plan, more and more women are choosing to include the use of water at some stage. In fact, around...
Maggie Banks - RM, PhD, ADN, RGON The paucity of literature on labour and birth in water with breech- presenting babies highlights a need to share (and document) empirical...
20 November 2015: Since the early 1980s use of immersion in water during labour and birth has been increasingly promoted to enable women to relax, help them cope...
Excerpt from article published by Big Birtha who provides information and support for bigger mums and mums to be. All women are more buoyant and supported by water,...
Michel Odent’s groundbreaking report “Birth Under Water” that was published in the Lancet in December 1983 is widely regarded as the seminal moment in time when the use...
Megan Cooper RM, BHSc (Honours), Jane Warland RM, PhD Helen McCutcheon RM, PhD. Abstract Water immersion for labour and birth is becoming an increasingly attractive option for women....
Originally published December 11, 2014 World-renowned social anthropologist and birth activist Sheila Kitzinger (1929-2015) was a strong advocate for birth in water, known as waterbirth. A voice for...
The benefits of using water for labour and birth are well known... Here are the facts... Relaxing in a deep pool of warm water can be a wonderful aid in labour. It’s...
High BMI Waterbirth – time for trusts to take the plunge? AIMS Journal Volume 31 No. 2 2019
In light of the publication of recent articles that report the growing demand from women around the world who want to have a natural, drug free, non-medicalised birth...
The cost-effectiveness of mother well-being Abstract: Purpose To assess the cost-effectiveness of water compared with normal land delivery. Methods; A retrospective controlled study was conducted over a two-year period in...
Water immersion for labour and/or birth can be a supportive low-cost, low-tech intervention that enhances women’s experiences of their labour and with positive outcome benefits. In a previous...
Barbara Harper 2000 Waterbirth is simple. Within the simplicity of water labor and birth lies a complexity of questions, choices, opinions, research data, women’s experience and practitioner observations....
Water immersion during labour and waterbirth is a low-tech but complex intervention that optimises the normal physiological processes of labour and birth. We call for midwives and maternity professionals to...
