There’s been a reported surge in women seeking home births since the outbreak of coronavirus in Australia.
Research led by Hudson Institute has shown home birth is safe for women with low-risk pregnancies.
However, epidemiologist Dr Miranda Davies-Tuck says there is no need for pregnant women to change their birth plan from hospital to home as a knee-jerk reaction to COVID-19.
“There’s currently no evidence that planning to give birth in hospital is any less safe than it was before coronavirus,” Dr Davies-Tuck said.
“COVID-19 rates are low in Australia at present so your risk of contracting it when you go to hospital is also low.”
“Private midwives have reported increased demand – but they can’t take everyone,” she adds. “Women tend to book in early. Many (private midwives) are simply booked out.”
Dr Davies-Tuck led research published in 2018 which found women with healthy, low-risk pregnancies who gave birth at home with a midwife had comparable rates of stillbirth and neonatal death to healthy low-risk women who gave birth in hospital.
However, the rates of neonatal death were higher during home birth in women with high-risk pregnancies (such as post-term, multiple births, a prior caesarean and women with medical conditions like diabetes) than in similar women who gave birth in hospital.
The research, based on a study of births in Victoria from 2000-2015, has helped inform new Safer Care Victoria guidelines for home births. The development of the draft guidelines, led by Dr Davies-Tuck, are now out for consultation.
Dr Davies-Tuck is also Investigator on a current study examining the impact of COVID-19 on private practicing midwives in Australia, with collaborators Professor Caroline Homer (Burnet Institute, Melbourne), Professor Hannah Dahlen (Western Sydney University) and Dr Vanessa Scarf (University of Technology Sydney).
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