Waterbirth International

💦Did you know that water immersion during labor is supported by decades of research showing improved comfort, reduced interventions, and greater maternal satisfaction?💦

Warm water does far more than help women relax, it actively supports the physiology of labor and birth.

💧 Reduced Pain & Lower Epidural Use
Multiple studies, including the Cochrane Review on immersion in water during labor and birth, found that women laboring in water reported lower pain levels and were less likely to request epidural analgesia (Cluett & Burns, 2009).

💧 Lower Stress Hormones
Warm water promotes relaxation and decreases catecholamine release, allowing oxytocin, the hormone responsible for effective contractions, to work more efficiently (Odent, 2014). This often leads to calmer, more productive labor patterns.

💧 Freedom of Movement & Improved Positioning
Buoyancy reduces pressure on the joints and pelvis, making it easier for laboring women to instinctively move, squat, kneel, rotate, and find positions that support fetal descent and comfort.

💧 Shorter Labors & Greater Satisfaction
Research has linked water immersion with shorter labors, reduced intervention rates, and higher maternal satisfaction scores (Burns et al., 2012; Ulfsdottir et al., 2018).

💧 Emotional Safety
Qualitative studies consistently show that women describe laboring in water as calming, empowering, and deeply supportive of emotional well-being (BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, 2025).

Water immersion is not simply a comfort measure. It is a physiologic tool that supports the body’s innate ability to labor and birth.

Interested in offering laboring in water at your practice?
Learn from Barbara Harper’s 40+ years of global experience through our evidence-based Online Provider Certification Course.

💧🌍 Learn more at waterbirth.org 🌍💧

👶💦Did you know that a new 10-year study found water immersion during labor was associated with better maternal and newborn outcomes than epidural analgesia among low-risk women?💦👶

A 2024 retrospective cohort study published in Healthcare compared outcomes of more than 1,100 low-risk births in Spain between women who used water immersion and those who received epidural analgesia during labor.

The findings continue to support what Waterbirth International has taught for decades: when physiology is protected, birth often unfolds more gently and effectively.

💧 Higher Rates of Spontaneous Birth
Women using water immersion were significantly more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal birth and far less likely to experience cesarean birth.

💧 Improved Perineal Outcomes
The study found higher rates of intact perineums and lower rates of episiotomy among women laboring in water—supporting the role of relaxation, mobility, and reduced tension during physiologic birth.

💧 Better Newborn Outcomes
Babies in the water immersion group showed:
- Better 5-minute Apgar scores
- Better umbilical cord arterial pH
- Lower NICU admission rates

💧 Supporting Calm, Physiologic Labor
Researchers concluded that women choosing water immersion “were no more likely to experience adverse outcomes” and often experienced better results than those using epidural analgesia.

This growing body of evidence reinforces what experienced midwives, doulas, nurses, and waterbirth providers witness every day around the world: warm water supports relaxation, mobility, physiologic labor, and gentler transitions for both mother and baby.

These are exactly the kinds of evidence-based studies explored throughout the Waterbirth International Provider Certification Course. Barbara Harper helps birth professionals understand not only how waterbirth works, but why.

Read the full article here:
https://waterbirth.org/new-study