Home childbirth: progress or retrocession?

Abstract

Giving birth at home represents a rising modality of delivery care in the Brazilian society, although in unrepresentative proportion when compared to the number of hospital childbirths. In Brazil, the topic has been broadly discussed by different professional categories, highlighting the safety issue involved in the process. The aim of this theoretical and reflective study was to present a brief overview of the overall care related to home childbirth, also questioning the reality of the contemporary Brazilian obstetric scenario. The scientific literature presents both obstetric and neonatal outcomes as favorable to home childbirth; similar risks when compared to hospital childbirth and higher rates of maternal satisfaction, and these both factors justify its practice. Therefore, a movement of women who are deeply unhappy with the current model of obstetric care is currently observed and they have been opting for home childbirth as a response to institutional violence, fragmentation and depersonalization of hospital care.