More Babies Prefer Home Birth

This is probably the most comprehensive study of home birth ever undertaken in the UK. It attempted to follow all women who booked a home birth in the UK in 1994. Midwives recorded outcomes for 5971 women who were booked for home births at 37 weeks’ gestation, and they tried to find a matching woman from their practice who was as similar as possible to the home birth mother, but was booked to deliver in hospital. In some cases an appropriate matching hospital booking could not be found, so the hospital group only contained 4724 women.

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The Labour/Birth

Planning a home birth halved the chances of mothers in this study having assisted or caesarean births. The overall rate of these events was very low, because mainly only low-risk women booked for a home birth.

The authors note that ‘The hypothesis that social and environmental factors can affect progress of labour and mode of delivery is strongly supported by experimental evidence. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials shows that continuous professional support during labour is associated with a reduced incidence of Caesarean section and instrumental delivery. In the light of this evidence it is easy to accept that some women may labour better in their own homes.’(1)

(For the full report summary, please visit homebirth.org.uk)