Traumatic childbirth experience

Childbirth is different for everyone. For some people it can cause physical or psychological injuries.

This article will focus on the emotional and psychological impact of birth trauma. To learn more about physical birth injuries, see our article on birth injury (to the mother).

Around the time of childbirth, you can feel a range of emotions, such as:

• excitement
• joy
• fear
• pain
• uncertainty

Psychological birth trauma happens when you have a traumatic or distressing experience during pregnancy, labour or childbirth. This can cause:

• overwhelming and distressing emotions
• emotional pain
• feelings of fear and helplessness

This can lead to negative impacts on your health and wellbeing. Up to 1 in 3 people who give birth view the birth of their baby as traumatic. Birth trauma can also affect your partner and loved ones.

Trauma during birth can be connected to physical or psychological experiences, such as:

• pain
• medical treatments
• birth injury
• perineal tearing

It can also result from how you feel about the experiences and interactions during childbirth.

Your mental health is important. Your experience and feelings about your childbirth are valid. This means that if your birth experience felt traumatic to you, then it was traumatic. Your feelings are worthy of acknowledgement, treatment and recovery.

You may have experienced trauma during your childbirth experience if you:

• find it hard to process your experience for several days, months and years
• feel that your birth was distressing
• feel disappointed, angry, ashamed or sad
• have unpleasant flashbacks due to the pregnancy birth process or postpartum
• have felt that your concerns were minimised during labour and birth
• have felt that your wishes were dismissed during labour and birth
• feel overwhelmed with parenting

As a birth partner, you may have:

• found the labour and birth distressing
• felt powerless or helpless
• felt excluded from decision-making
• felt disregarded, unheard or overlooked by the healthcare team

Psychological birth-related trauma can also lead to mental health problems such as:

• anxiety
• postnatal depression
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Opens in new tab) including childbirth-related PTSD

Birth trauma can be experienced by any birthing parent, due to shocking or unexpected experiences during birth.

Some factors that may contribute to birth-related trauma, include:

• complications during pregnancy, labour, birth or soon after
• having a premature baby
• fear for your baby’s, your partner’s or your own wellbeing
• experiencing intense pain during labour and birth
• having emergency medical interventions during labour and birth such as an emergency caesarean or an assisted delivery
• having a long, difficult labour or a very quick delivery
• being separated from your baby after birth — your baby may have needed to go to the special care nursery or neonatal intensive care unit

During pregnancy, labour and birth, other factors that can contribute to birth-related trauma are:

• feeling a lack of respect or poor communication from healthcare staff
• feeling uninformed, out of control or forced into making decisions about your care
• feeling judged, criticised or like your concerns are dismissed
• feeling alone or unsupported by your partner or a health professional
• having procedures performed without informed consent
• when your expectations or plans for pregnancy, birth and beyond are not met

Your birth experiences may also be influenced by your personal medical or previous history, such as:

• a previous experience of birth trauma
• abuse or trauma
• having a pregnancy loss or stillbirth
• mental health conditions

If your feelings about your birth experience are affecting you, it’s important to seek help. If your symptoms are worrying you, speak to your:

• doctor
• midwife
• maternal child health nurse

They can refer (Opens in new tab) you for further treatment and support.

Getting early care and support can help.

It is also never too late to ask for help. Some people seek help months or years after birth trauma.

Getting support can be a vital part of recovering and healing from birth trauma.

Your healthcare team should aim to provide trauma-informed care. This is a way of giving care recognising the widespread impact of trauma.

Trauma-informed care includes social support, psychological support and medical care.

Ask for help

Having a support network can help you recover from birth trauma.

Try asking your family and friends for practical and emotional support. This might include:

• listening to how you are feeling about your childbirth experience
• helping around your home, such as by grocery shopping or cleaning
• spending time together doing things that you enjoy

You can also speak with a counsellor or connect with an online resource. It may help to write down how you are feeling.

Psychological treatment or medicines

Depending on your situation, your doctor may recommend:

• counselling (Opens in new tab)
• psychological therapy
• medication

Psychological treatments and medicines can help with anxiety and depression.

Self-care

Be kind to yourself after having a baby. You might try:

• going for walks outside
• relaxation techniques (Opens in new tab)
• mindfulness (Opens in new tab)
• gentle exercise
• meditation (Opens in new tab)

As much as possible, it is also important to try and keep healthy by:

• eating well (Opens in new tab)
• resting
• avoiding caffeine and alcohol (Opens in new tab)
• making time for yourself

Your obstetrician, GP and midwife can help support you throughout your pregnancy and birthing experience. Continuity of care is when the same health professional or small team are available throughout your pregnancy.

They can discuss possible scenarios with you and help set realistic expectations. This can help you mentally prepare for birth, and manage if it doesn’t happen exactly the way you hoped.

Interventions are actions to help or improve a situation. During childbirth, your healthcare team should explain the risks and benefits of any interventions for you and your baby. They should always ask you for your informed consent before doing a procedure or treatment.

There should be a shared decision-making process between you and your midwife or doctor. It’s also helpful for your partner or support person to be present when decisions about how you give birth are made.

If you aren’t sure about something that happened to you, first meet with your doctor or midwife.

Talking to the healthcare professionals involved in your care can help you understand what happened and why.

If you are unhappy with your healthcare team, you can contact:

• your birth hospital
• the health care complaints agency (HCCC) or health department in your local state or territory
• the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Opens in new tab) (AHPRA) if you have a concern about the unsafe behaviour or practice of a registered health practitioner
• the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (Opens in new tab)

Find out more about making a healthcare complaint.

Talk to your doctor, midwife or obstetrician.

Visit Australian Birth Trauma Association (Opens in new tab) for information and support, including peer-to-peer support.

Visit PANDA (Opens in new tab) (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia) for information and support after a traumatic birth. You can call the PANDA national helpline on 1300 726 306.

Gidget Foundation Australia (Opens in new tab) exists to support the emotional wellbeing of expectant and new parents to ensure they get the right care — call 1300 851 758.

ForWhen (Opens in new tab) connects new parents to mental health services and supports — call on 1300 24 23 22.

Beyond Blue (Opens in new tab) offers mental health support and counselling — call 1300 22 4636 or chat to a counsellor online.

The Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE) (Opens in new tab) provides information on perinatal mental health and information on support services.

Languages other than English

You can read information on perinatal depression and anxiety (Opens in new tab) from WayAhead in multiple languages, via Health Translations Victoria.

Information for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples

The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation’s Child and Maternal Health (Opens in new tab) work seeks to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, children and families.