Should dads be in the delivery room? We look at the pros and cons
Many men say seeing their partner give birth is one of the most momentous events in their life, but doctors say the father’s presence is not always helpful; some feel out of their depth, but others provide positive energy during labour
A number of Chinese traditions persist around pregnancy and delivery. There is the practice of “sitting the month” – a centuries-old custom that prohibits new mothers from eating certain foods or leaving the house. Another ritual permitted a father’s involvement in a baby’s first bath but excluded him from being present during labour. And – as unfashionable as the notion is now – there is the banning of dads from labour wards.
The dilemma facing Hong Kong’s expectant mums: follow traditional Chinese beliefs or ways of the West?
Some fathers attend their child’s delivery because they feel they “ought” to be there, not because they want to be there. They may not enjoy it. Not because they are squeamish, but out of a feeling that “here was the person I loved most in the world undergoing this horrendous pain and distress and there was absolutely nothing I could do to alleviate it for her”.
In Britain, at least, it’s estimated that more than 90 per cent of fathers attend births. Most claim the experience is among the most precious of their lives, but are they telling the truth?
In 1960 – when the rate was closer to 15 per cent – a London doctor interviewed fathers and their partners post-delivery. He asked the dads if they had been happy witnesses to the birth of their children. Without exception they collectively responded yes.
The doctor, George Davidson, then spoke to each father alone, assuring them that their responses were confidential. This time most of the men said that although the birth was an extraordinary experience, it was one they could have lived without. Many felt it had done little to improve their relationship with their wives, and some admitted that the image of a labouring partner intruded on what had been a healthy sex life.
Davidson’s findings were largely ignored and fathers were increasingly found in delivery suites rather than skulking in hospital corridors. But in the late 1990s Dr Michel Odent, the French obstetrician who pioneered the water birth, did something even more fantastical than advocating babies be born in a paddling pool: he was conspicuous by his absence when his own wife gave birth.
