17 Ines Rothman and Lieve Huybrechts
Channel: Virtual Midwives
Date: 2022-05-21

VIDM 2022 :: Swing your belly: Midwives care for freedom of mobility promoting a dynamic birth

Facilitator: Mary Bada

Clinical guidelines and scientific research over the past 10 years show that freedom of mobility during labour and birth has positive effects on some maternal and neonatal outcomes. Important limitations are that studies do not fully capture the richness of the concept of freedom of mobility, the birth experience and care context.

As a midwife, it is important to encourage women to move during labour and birth, to let women choose freely the positions they feel are most beneficial to them and their child and to build their trust and confidence in staying mobile during birth. In case of labour dystocia, midwives play a crucial role in advising specific remedial labour and birth positions. The knowledge about freedom of mobility within a physiological birth framework is a fundamental midwifery skill. And midwives need to be given (back) the freedom to apply this valuable knowledge in promoting better birth outcomes.