Healing From A Traumatic Birth

For those that have never experienced childbirth or have only had positive birthing experiences, it can be difficult to understand how or why a person would reflect on their birth experience as though something terrible has happened, especially if they and their baby are safe and healthy. When caring for friends and family or working as a birth professional, it is important to seek compassionate and empathetic understanding.

Birth trauma is very real and has a lasting impact on the entire family and even on communities.

Birth trauma is not always the result of some catastrophic event, the need for surgical intervention, or a physical assault on the parent during labor. Often birth trauma is the result of subtleties within the birth environment. Like many kinds of trauma, harm can come from the smaller, less obvious events.

A negative birth experience can result in a general feeling of sadness, grief, and loss. If your birth experience was traumatic you may feel alone, like you are not worthy, or that you have been violated. In more extreme cases, birth trauma may result in PTSD and/or postpartum depression. You may be uncomfortable talking about your negative feelings because you should be grateful to have a healthy baby or because you do not think it is acceptable to feel negative about your experience.

If you experience a traumatic birth, you may feel detached from your infant and have difficulty bonding. You may struggle with breastfeeding, compounding your sense of disappointment. Postpartum depression can make it nearly impossible to resume your normal day-to-day activities. Having a birth experience that you interpret as traumatic or negative may lead you to no longer desire more children. You might avoid intimate contact with your partner to eliminate the risk of pregnancy, because of discomfort due to physical trauma, or because it is a reminder of the violation you felt during the birth of your child.  

Research on traumatic and negative birth experiences is limited. There are some studies confirming the impact of emotional birth trauma and discussing the risk factors as well as prevention. We know that you are more likely to view your birth experience negatively if you feel you were not in control of your experience, if people present at your birth acted hostile or uncaring, or if you felt a loss of dignity or that you were denied informed consent in regards to your care, but it is still unclear just how far-reaching the birth experience is within a person’s life.

Each birth experience has the power to shape and change you. It can leave you feeling strong and accomplished, or weak and defeated. Birth trauma is real, your feelings are valid, and support and empathy is critical to helping a new parent overcome it.

We suggest a combination of postpartum doula support and professional counseling (ideally with a therapist who specializes in birth trauma and/or perinatal psychology) to help you navigate the difficulty of processing a traumatic birth experience. You can also speak to your primary care provider about the feelings you are having, especially if you are showing signs of PTSD or postpartum depression.