Thread: Pain in childbirth is purposeful and women should be prepared to withstand pain.....

http://m.telegraph.co.uk/article/5810342/

"Pain in labour is a purposeful, useful thing, which has quite a number of benefits, such as preparing a mother for the responsibility of nurturing a newborn baby."
"More women should be prepared to withstand pain." said Dr Walsh.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theonesho...in_benefi.html

I agree.

Trust it to be a man!

Originally Posted by Starry

I agree.

I don't, what a crock! Pain in childbirth makes you a better mother?!?!!
Let him have an anaesthetic free vasectomy, see if it makes him a better husband and father
infact, do that anyway, just cos I have taken a dislike to him

Sooo .... is he saying that if the child is delivered by C-Sect (local or general=no pain!) the Mother won't bond with the child as well as with a normal delivery?
Arse!

everyone expects pain in a vaginal birth. wont make you a nicer mother though.

To a certain extent I agree that preparation is a good idea, but to say the pain makes you a better Mother is something I definitely don't agree with.

I agree that women should be prepared for some pain - it is childbirth after all! I think it is silly when a woman announces she intends to have a baby and will be having x, y and z pain relief - it's so negative - like she fully expects not to be able to cope with the pain before she has even felt it. I don't think it's a good frame of mind to start the whole process on -like givinng up before you even start. Obviously, women should be able to have pain relief if/when they require it, but going into the whole process with a more positive mind set is much healthier imo.

At the end of the day women in some countries give birth without pain relief every day. I do think that we in the western world are so much more out of touch with ourselves, our bodies and what our bodies are designed to do naturally. Animals give birth withut pain relief, as far as we know. I feel very strongly that we as women need to try and be more in sync with our bodies in many ways and the labour and child birth process if one of them.

Obviously, on another level it is great that we have a choice of pain relief but in many cases it is not necessisarily the best option. Epidurals can often slow down labour and mean an assisted birth ie forceps or ventouse will become necessary. One of my best friends who is a midwife announced (as soon as she was pregnant) that she would have an elective c-section as she didnt think she would be able to deal with the pain!

Every one is different, but for me personally, dealing with the pain and overcoming it to some point was an amazingly empowering experience - and I was terrified of childbirth before I fell pregnant.

Obviously the man who wrote that article is a misogynist pig and his points were certainly not put forward in a very reasonable manner.

But on some level I do think that you have to expect some amount of pain. It doesnt make you a better mother but I hate this attitude of 'I don;t need to feel any pain in this day and age' that some people have.

But then, I am woozy with codeine atm so take no responsibility for what I have said until I have re read it with a straight head

codeine? Whats up?


I'm not sure I agree. Epidurals freak me out, I would never want a needle in my spine for pain relief, out of fear of the side effects
I wouldn't expect to be completely pain free in labour because any pain relief has a side effect and I would just want the minimum to make me feel that I could manage
So, I am not sure its a good idea to go into labour thinking how can I do this without any pain

But - its surely a woman's right to choose? Not have some sexist ill-informed opinionated twat suggest pain relief results in poor mothering skills

i had pethidine with ds but didn't have time for any pain relief with dd's althouth i think i would have taken something (pethidine didn't really work so maybe just gas &air) but def' not epidural the thought of a needle in my spine