Leading OB Says Men Should Not Be in Delivery Room
By Danell Swim
April 15, 2008
This week, the Mail reported a new survey which said fathers should be allowed to stay overnight in hospital on the day their baby is born.
But how much should a man be involved in his child’s birth? Leading obstetrician Michel Odent has been instrumental in influencing childbirth practices for decades.
Here, with a view that will outrage many - but will strike a chord with thousands of others - he describes why he believes that when a woman goes into labour, her partner should stay well away.
From Michel Odent:
For many years, I have not been able to speak openly about my views that the presence of a father in a delivery room is not only unnecessary, but also hinders labour.
To utter such a thing over the past two decades would have been regarded as heresy, and flies in the face of popular convention.
But having been involved in childbirth for 50 years, and having been in charge of 15,000 births, I have reached the stage where I feel it is time to state what I - and many midwives and fellow obstetricians - privately consider the obvious.
That there is little good to come for either sex from having a man at the birth of a child.
For her, his presence is a hindrance, and a significant factor in why labours are longer, more painful and more likely to result in intervention than ever.
As for the effect on a man - well, was I surprised to hear a friend of mine state that watching his wife giving birth had started a chain of events that led to the couple’s divorce?
What do you think? Do you think that having men in the birthing room is part of the reason for our increased interventions, complications and skyrocketing cesarean rate? Or would this be depriving men of a special experience, and leaving mothers without a needed ally?
Comments
3 Responses to “Leading OB Says Men Should Not Be in Delivery Room”
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I am SO mad at the gaul that this OB has for this article. I have 4 children, and my Husband was present at 3 births. He was amazing, and I was MORE on edge when he went to the bathroom, for food, or what ever. I felt that the hospital staff were abusive and mean and would try to force me into something that I didn’t want.
While my husband was at my 3 births, it’s my deepest regret that he wasn’t there for the 4th. Had my husband ever let on that he wasn’t comfortable, or didn’t want to be there- as we had MANY discussions about his being at the delivery- I would have been more than understanding if he didn’t want to be there. But to say that ALL men should be out in the waiting room is rediculious.
Blaming a failed marriage on a man being in the delivery room, is like blaming a child for something that an adult is responsible for.
Our society, is a sue happy, drug induced, Labor induced, time table convienent birth and ultimate c-section happy society. We ALLOW induction’s, epidural’s, “speeding” of labor, and scheduled c-section because it’s easier for the doctor, because the Doctor/God want’s to be in controll. I firmly believe that if husbands are denied the right to be at the birth (if he want’s to that is) then the C-Section rate will increase, and the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting form child birth will also rise. I am very disapointed by this article, and by this OBGYN and all that he has implicated.
I totally agree with this article, actually. I don’t think men should be banned from the delivery room per se, but I think we should really revisit the idea of labor being “woman’s work.” Women should absolutely have someone with them…but not necessarily men. If a husband wants to be there, okay, but otherwise, women should surround themselves with women, who’ve been there before and who know how to comfort another woman.
It is unfortunate that most news articles are so brief they cannot really give a full story.
If I had not read many books and articles by this “leading OB” I might, like a previous commenter, assume that Dr. Odent wanted more control of birth by medical professionals.
Dr. Odent is not even a supporter of the current medical maternity system as we know it. He very much champions woman-centered home birth midwifery. He studied its safety for the World health Organization (1986-1990). He knows it is the choice that allows women the most control over what happens to them and their babies, and what role their partner will have.
The hospital environment is an alien one for most of us It is not one that makes adrenaline levels go down. Odent’s observations should not be dismissed. He would rather see most women choose home over hospital, but that does not seem to be happening anytime soon. So, in light of this, the next best thing is to try to not add stress to the compromised situation.
If there was an adrenaline blocker that could be issued to all laboring mothers entering the hospitals (maybe fathers too) a lot of negative effects Odent mentions might be eliminated. Many classes people take just are not enough. Odent has favorable things to say about hypnosis programs though, as a way to override the stress.