Parents need more holistic maternity care
Women and men believe the dominant model of maternity care in Australia is contributing to negative impacts on physical, emotional and social health, according to research published in the Australian Health Review.
“Couples and individuals accessing mainstream maternity services are often finding difficulties with the fragmentation of the system and services, and the lack of control or voice they have during the process,” said author, Dr Lareen Newman from the Department of Public Health at Flinders University.
“This includes during the pregnancy, where some women reported having a different midwife every time they had an appointment, and even different doctors. This lack of consistency and the inability to form connections to people involved in the pregnancy, birthing process and post-natal care is causing a number of parents to have negative experiences that are impacting on their post-birth health and that of their children.
“The impacts of negative birthing experiences can be physical pain, such as tearing and surgical complications that are unexpected. Emotionally, one quarter of women are delaying or avoiding having another child following a traumatic first birth. These impacts can have significant impacts on the health of the entire family down the track.
“While not all births will be plain sailing, parents have come to a point of expecting that the care they receive will be well coordinated with personal and mutually respectful relationships. Women in particular want their contact to be predominantly with one carer throughout the entire process. Through this they want to be able to select options for their own care and birth, and have a level of decision making that ensures positive emotional experiences.
“This research indicates that a broader range of options for birthing in particular, including low intervention approaches, would be welcomed by parents – both first-time parents and those who already have children. The number of people wanting to access alternatives to highly medicalised hospital-based care is outstripping the supply of programs and professionals available to provide such services.
“Maternity services need to be reoriented to account for the changing expectations and experiences of health consumers, especially to provide a more holistic and social approach that will result in better outcomes. In this case, maternity care will act as a positive social determinant of health and start children and families on the right foot,” said Dr Newman.
Yes I agree that the general information out there is really small considering the importance and necessity to give a good start for the new generations, starting at birth.
I believe that even though the utility of medicalised units in hospitals for a certain type of pregnancies is undeniable, a large portion of the population can aim to have healthy pregnancies and births with the help of natural medicine.
It would be great to see a world where at least options are given to future parents as to how they want to proceed with the care needed prior during and after their pregnancies.