Ten years after the opening of the first birthing center in France, women are increasingly attracted to this type of place run by midwives to give birth to their child.
- Birth centers are establishments run solely by midwives, where women can give birth physiologically, in a room that is not medicalized.
- If there is any problem or need for an epidural, the woman is transferred to the nearest partner hospital.
- Just a few hours after giving birth, the mother and her child return to the family home, where they will be monitored by the same midwife who was already monitoring the mother during pregnancy and who also took part in the birth.
On the occasion of World Childbirth Week, an Ifop study for Le Collectif des Maisons de Naissance carried out by self-administered online questionnaire from May 3 to 10, 2024 among a sample of 1,134 people representative of the French female population aged between 18 and 45, according to the quota method, shows that 60% of the women surveyed wish to give birth in a birthing center.
What is a birthing center?
“Birth centers offer less technical support and comprehensive monitoring for low-risk pregnancies, can be read in the document sent to the survey participants. Furnished like a house (bedroom, kitchen, bathroom) within a maternity ward, these places welcome families wishing to give birth in an intimate setting (music, subdued lighting, etc.), at their own pace and with complete freedom of movement: in water, standing, squatting, suspended, on the ground or of course in a bed.”Unlike a traditional maternity ward in a hospital (public or private), these places are entirely managed by midwives.
Another special point: here the woman gives birth without anesthesia. However, in case of need or change of mind, she is redirected to the maternity partner of the establishment as soon as possible.
Finally, unlike a traditional hospital birth, there is no stay on site. The family returns home just a few hours after the birth of the child. The mother and her baby are then visited at home by the same midwife who followed the mother during pregnancy and childbirth.
The perceived advantages of birth centers for giving birth
When women are asked what they like most about these establishments, 42% of them answer:the fact that the mother can choose her method of delivery”, at 29% ”the intimacy of women and couples” and 25% “medical safety ensured by the continuous presence of the midwife”. There are also 17% who want to give birth in these places mainly because there is “no systematic intervention imposed such as perfusion, continuous fetal monitoring, directed expulsive efforts or delivery, episiotomy”.
In France, there are currently only nine birthing centers that have been made permanent by a 2020 law in Paris, Vitry-sur-Seine, Castre, Saint Paul, Grenoble, Baie-Mahault, Sélestat, Bourgoin-Jallieu and Nancy. This means that on average, our country has one birthing center for every 90,000 births. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, there is 1 for every 10,000, or 9 times more. Our European neighbors are doing much better too: there are 150 birthing centers in Germany, and as many in the United Kingdom.
