By: Alisyn Don

Alternative Medicine in Pregnancy and Birth overview

Alternative medicine is a type of medicine that is not regarded as normal or mainstream by common medical practitioners. When used in pregnancy it can look like hypnotism to relieve anxiety or acupuncture to relieve back pain. In birth it can look like having a Duala by your side during your birth or deciding to have an at home water birth. All of these methods can help women while going through pregnancy or birth but are not considered normal medicine.

While some alternative medicines like acupuncture or hypnotism are more widely accepted as safe methods of therapy, alternatives like at home births and midwives still hold controversy. According to Amy Tuteur of The New York Times in 2012 the death rate in babies born at home was seven times higher than in babies born in a hospital. With this controversy, the conversation around alternative medicine has grown and the debate includes more people now than it ever has.

According to Alexandra Sifferlin of TIME magazine, home births have been increasing since 2004. The increase is slow but has made big waves and stirred up discussion around the issue. The use of birthing centers has also risen 56% since 2007, according to Phi Galewitz of CNN. The frequency of out of hospital births has been constantly changing since in hospital births became common but, since 1990 this is the first rise in those numbers. Along with the slow rise in out of hospital births in recent history the commonality of alternative medicine during pregnancy has become much more common as well and there is a general idea of acceptance among some alternative options.

Although the popularity of these options is rising the controversy has not gone away. With the less controversial methods, like acupuncture and hypnotism, the question if these methods even provide any relief are in question. The more controversial methods like at home births or births in a birth center provide most of the controversy around the issue, though. Supporters of at home births say it is a way for women to take back control of their births and make the experience a calming and empowering one rather than chaotic and dehumanizing one. People against home births criticize the safety of the procedure and say that any extra comfort is not worth the risk that it can put mothers and babies in.