Perspective : Childbirth education in Australia : have we lost our way?

Antenatal education in Australia has shifted its focus from preparation for birth, to a broader focus on pregnancy, birth and parenting, without expanding the time allocated to the classes. There have been appropriate reasons behind this move because focussing only on birth often came at the expense of discussing early parenting. Our main concern is that insufficient time is allocated for birth preparation and rehearsal of natural pain management techniques, with reliance on medical management remaining at the forefront of childbirth pain management discourse. This results in women being unprepared, fearful and having inadequate resources or information to cope with normal labour and birth. In a political environment where the reduction in rates of caesarean section (CS) is emerging as an important maternal outcome, we are doing little to prepare women for normal birth. In this editorial we ask, what is the point of antenatal education, if not to prepare women for labour and birth; how much evidence is there behind what we currently do, and is it time to regulate this space?