Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
If you’ve been half awake in recent days, you might have heard of a new study showing that “babies are seven times more likely to die during home births”.
It’s worth having a close look at what the study actually found … and also considering some of the broader context that has been sadly lacking from most of the coverage I’ve seen and heard.
… The researchers compared the outcomes for 287,192 planned hospital births that took place in SA between 1991 and 2006 with those of 1141 planned home births. Note that this latter group was defined as any birth intended to occur at home at the time of antenatal booking, but about 30% actually ended up occurring in hospital …
During those 16 years, there were nine perinatal deaths in the planned home birth group (seven of which actually occurred in babies born in hospital) … two deaths occurred among the 792 infants born at home, one of whom had congenital abnormalities.
… the rates of caesarean sections and other interventions were significantly lower in the home-birth group. Nine per cent of women who’d planned a home birth ended up having a caesarean …
The home-birth babies were more likely to die during labour and delivery …
… home-birth babies were 27 times more likely to die from lack of oxygen during delivery. Again, this finding had wide confidence intervals, with the estimate ranging from eight to 89 times greater — clearly, another one to take with caution.
… The researchers note that … “there were only three perinatal deaths for which one can reasonably assume that a different choice of care provider, location of birth or timing of transfer to hospital might have made a difference to the outcome.”
It is also worth noting that one of these three deaths occurred in a twin. The reason the parents persisted in a home birth despite being advised against it was that they “had had unsatisfactory hospital experiences during previous pregnancies”.
… it seems more pertinent than ever to borrow the final words of the study’s authors:
Although it is not anticipated that large numbers of women will opt for home birth, women’s autonomy in choosing reproductive behaviour is a fundamental human right enshrined in Australian law.
Respecting their choices and achieving the best outcome for all concerned is likely to remain a challenge that will require more light and less heat than it has received thus far …
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448