Information from Medscape Nursing

Study Shows Benefits of Underwater Birth

By Hannah Cleaver

BERLIN (Reuters Health) Jan 22, 2003 – Giving birth in water should no longer be considered an “alternative” method restricted to specialist centres, according to European researchers who evaluated the outcome of more than 1500 births.

Drs. Albin Thni and Konrad Mussner, from the regional hospital in Sterzing in the South Tyrol region of northern Italy, compared data from 969 water births, 515 births in bed and 172 using a birthing stool.

After removing complicated births that required vacuum extraction, other manual help or epidural anaesthetic, the results show a clear advantage for water births, they report in the December issue of the German-language journal Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde (Obstetrics and Gynaecology).