Women describing birth trauma told a Senate inquiry they had been ignored, dismissed and left without adequate postnatal support, as one mother recounted being denied repeated requests for pain relief or a caesarean during nearly 30 hours of labour.
Nadine, a clinical psychologist, said she pleaded with nurses and doctors for an epidural or caesarean as the pain intensified during the birth of her first child. She was eventually taken for an emergency C-section after the baby’s survival was placed at risk.
Holding back tears at the hearing in Sydney, she said the lasting impact had been shaped not only by the medical circumstances but by how she was treated.
“It wasn’t medical issues that was the difference, it was being listened to and having compassionate care,” she told the committee.
“I asked multiple times and I wasn’t even acknowledged… it felt shaming and I felt like it was my fault.”
“I cried every day for seven months.”
The inquiry was established in August to elevate women’s experiences of healthcare and examine barriers affecting their health, as well as ways treatment could be improved.
Women describe the lasting effects of birth trauma
Research presented to the inquiry found that birth injuries cost Australia 17.5 billion dollars a year, while more than one million mothers experience continuing physical and psychological conditions.
Hannah Dahlen, a Western Sydney University midwifery academic, said physical and psychological problems were closely connected. Her analysis drew on the birth experiences of more than 8,800 women across Australia between 2016 and 2021.
About one in three women reported poorer physical health after giving birth, while a similar proportion experienced pelvic floor problems. Three in 10 said their emotional wellbeing was poor.
Professor Dahlen said these experiences were often not taken seriously by health professionals, arguing that postnatal care remained neglected once the baby had been delivered.
“We’ve often called postpartum care the Cinderella of maternity care, because the baby is out and they’re breathing, the mother is alive and nothing else really matters,” she told the inquiry.
“We’ve got to change that mentality and absolutely need to invest in post-natal support.”
Edwina Mead, a mother of three, told the hearing she had never been given a clinical explanation for an emergency caesarean.
She said she subsequently experienced 12 weeks of unexplained bleeding and a severe fungal infection that was misdiagnosed and lasted for 10 months. The problems were repeatedly dismissed as her period and eczema, she said.
“My direct plea for help was treated as an overreaction… my story is not isolated,” Ms Mead said.
Nimarta Verma, who migrated from Thailand, said she had nearly lost her baby during childbirth and then felt disrespected when her requests to breastfeed her newborn were dismissed by health professionals.
“What I didn’t know is the Australian dream would mean fighting for my right to breastfeed in the very hospital where I gave birth,” she said.
Ms Verma said she was left at high risk of pelvic injury alongside postpartum mental health problems.
“I gave her (my daughter) life and somewhere in the giving, I lost my own,” she said.
