Dads told to stay away from delivery room

For many men, attending the birth of a child is a momentous and emotional occasion. However, one of the world's leading obstetricians says the father's presence can lead to his partner needing a caesarean delivery, and even to marriage break-ups and mental illness.

Michel Odent, a childbirth specialist, also believes the labour can be longer, more painful and more complicated because the mother senses his anxiety and becomes nervous.

Babies' arrivals in the world would be more straightforward if women were left alone with only a midwife to help them, as they used to be, Odent will tell the Royal College of Midwives' annual conference in Manchester, England, next month.

"The ideal birth environment involves no men in general. Having been involved for more than 50 years in childbirths in homes and hospitals in France, England and Africa, the best environment I know for an easy birth is when there is nobody around the woman in labour apart from a silent, low-profile and experienced midwife - and no doctor and no husband, nobody else," Odent told the Observer. "In this situation, more often than not, the birth is easier and faster than when there are other people around, especially male figures - husbands and doctors."

Men present during their partner's labour produce adrenaline, which makes the woman tense and slows her production of the hormone oxytocin, which is vital for birth, says Odent. "If she can't release oxytocin she can't have effective contractions, and everything becomes more difficult.

Labour becomes longer, more painful and more difficult because the hormonal balance in the woman is disturbed by the environment that's not appropriate because of the presence of the man."

What he calls "the masculinisation of the birth environment" helps to explain the fact that 24 per cent of women now have a caesarean section, he said.

Odent, a Frenchman who also runs the Primal Health Research childbirth charity in London, decries that since the 1950s it has become increasingly expected that the man will attend the birth.

He links it to the "industrialisation of childbirth", when women began giving birth in hospital rather than at home and wanted someone to support them during the process.

Duncan Fisher, chief executive of the website Dad Info, who is debating with Odent at the event, said: "Odent is wrong and is not basing his argument on evidence either that it damages men or their relationships with mothers. Of course, not all men are nervous and a lot of women would be even more nervous without their partner there."

But Mary Newburn, of the UK's National Childbirth Trust, the country's biggest parenting organisation, defended Odent and said some men felt under pressure to attend their child's birth because of cultural expectations.

"There's such a feeling among women that 'you got me into this, I have carried the baby for nine months and now I have to go through labour and birth, so the least you can do is be with me, and if you feel a bit squeamish, then tough'. I wouldn't go as far as Odent in saying that men are always unhelpful in labour. But it's not men's right to be there.

The most important thing is that the woman feels safe, secure and supported, so if she wants to have a woman around instead, that's fine."

Odent said men witnessing childbirth can ruin the sexual attraction between a couple and lead to them getting divorced.

Some men end up suffering from a male equivalent of postnatal depression. Others end up playing golf or computer games - or even disappearing - as they try to avoid their new reality. Controversially, a few end up with schizophrenia or other mental disorders, he said.

Grace Thomas, a senior midwife in Wales who will chair the Odent-Fisher debate, has studied expectant fathers' attitudes towards pregnancy. Her research has found new fathers may undergo emotional turmoil before and after their child's birth as they adjust.

"Perhaps the midwifery profession has contributed to encouraging men to attend their partners' birth without understanding the impact of the birth both on them and on the mother.

"It's important that we understand the psychology of the family unit and how to best help and prepare the father to attend his child's birth," said Thomas.

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