It’s a topic that rarely sees the light of day, but almost one in 20 mothers may have a traumatic birthing experience, reports parentcentral.ca. Researchers from the Department of Obstetrics at the University of Western Sydney, Australia say some healthcare staff’s dismissive attitude towards mothers can cause traumatic deliveries that often haunt the mothers via post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Women shared childbirth horror stories including one of how callous medical personnel disregarded a mother’s complaints of pain—they had come on at shift change and incorrectly assumed she had received an epidural and pain meds when she hadn’t—while they manually scraped blood clots out of her uterus.
Another mother was denied the ability to plan her birth, when during a physical examination, the doctor ruptured her membranes without her knowledge or permission. One of the key findings to emerge from a research is that being denied the opportunity to make informed decisions about birth traumatizes women.
“Healthcare professionals must recognize women’s need to be involved in decision-making and to be fully informed about all aspects of their labour and birth to increase their sense of control,” the authors reported.
The study highlighted two key recommendations: Mothers should be encouraged to talk about their birth experiences and to access trauma therapy. And mothers who choose to breastfeed should receive additional support.