Pregnancy Coach, Alexia Leachman, 41 from Nottingham has slammed TV show One Born Every Minute, claiming it’s ‘scaring the crap’ out of mums-to-be.
The mother of two and host of Fear Free Childbirth podcast claims the problem with the show is it doesn’t offer a balanced view of childbirth, opting to focus on births that are highly dramatic and emotional.
Leachman wrote on her blog, “It’s creating fear among women when it comes to childbirth. My problem with fear, is that it’s directly responsible for crappy childbirth experiences that are bad for mum and bad for baby.
Childbirth is best for mum and baby when it’s without the drama and in a calm environment.”
Leachman admitted watching ‘awful and dramatic’ childbirth footage at school as a child terrified her about birth and One Born Every Minute is doing the same to mothers-to be.
In a column that she wrote for the Daily Mail, Leachman explains, ‘That early fear was reinforced by years of childbirth portrayals on TV and in films that are always so dramatic; hoards of medical staff, machines beeping, midwives shouting ‘PUSH!’ and mothers screaming in pain.
“Sure many women have those experiences, but many don’t. Normal birth is quite a calm low-key affair.”
Leachman used hypnobirthing and therapeutic techniques to remain calm during the births of her children. She had a “euphoric natural home birth in under three hours”.
As a result of the shows and the fear munging towards pregnant women, Leachman has started a petition for Channel 4 (the channel that plays One Born Every Minute) to portray a more balanced view of childbirth.
Leachman added: “I believe that families and future generations deserve a better chance at having amazing births and for me this starts with asking One Born Every Minute to just stop.”
What do you think? Do shows like One Born Every Minute scare you about childbirth? How did you overcome fear of birth?
