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Normal birth
NCT believes that birth is a normal physiological process and most pregnant women are fit and healthy, so there are potential benefits of giving birth in a social setting, such as at home.
National policy in England promotes normal birth. Maternity Matters states that midwives should have the skills and confidence to promote normal birth. In Scotland, A framework for maternity services states that maternity care professionals must work to promote the notion of pregnancy and childbirth as being normal life events.
The Welsh NSF states that All maternity units use the All Wales Clinical Pathway for Normal Labour, which was written by midwives for midwives to help promote normal birth, and undertake regular audit of its implementation.
NCT policy briefing below sets out NCT's policies with regards to promoting and protecting opportunities for normal birth and provides a useful definition of what is 'normal birth'.
Also available from NCT are reviews of evidence on the topic of pregnancy and birth, these are first published in NCT's professional development journal New Digest.
Related documents
- Consensus statement on normal birth – what has the impact been? (2010)
(PDF 608 Kb) - Mary Newburn, head of research and information, led the team that developed the statement. Three years on, she reports on progress. New Digest, July 2010.
- Normal birth as a measure of the quality of care (2010) (PDF 619 Kb)
- Normal birth as a measure of the quality of care: evidence on safety, effectiveness and women’s experiences.
- Does training in psychoprophylaxis during pregnancy help women to cope with pain in labour? (2010) (PDF 116 Kb)
- Gillian Fletcher, an NCT antenatal teacher and tutor, and Gill Gyte, an NCT antenatal teacher, review a recent research paper on whether psychoproyphlaxis training is effective.New Digest July 2010.
- How East Lancashire improved its home birth and water birth rates (2010) (PDF 93 Kb)
- Louise Dunn, NCT breastfeeding counsellor and MSLC chair, talks about the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s success in improving home birth and water birth rates. New Digest April 2010.
- Promoting and protecting opportunities for normal birth NCT policy briefing (PDF 98 Kb)
- Promoting and protecting opportunities for normal birth NCT policy briefing
- Making normal birth a reality: consensus statement from the Maternity Care Working Party (PDF 1919 Kb)
- Consensus statement developed by the members of the Maternity Care Working Party (MCWP)
