Traumatic birth is stress experienced by a mother during or after childbirth. While trauma can be physical, it is often emotional and psychological. Birth trauma is not just about what happened during labor and the birth. It can also refer to how you, as the mother, are left feeling afterwards. Pregnancy and birth are arguably one of the most vulnerable states a woman will ever be in, and due to this vulnerability, make it a high risk time for trauma to occur.

Trauma during childbirth happens as a result of not feeling valued, listened to, or in control of your labor and birth. It can also come out of fear or stress from labor or birth complications, or come about from a lack of trust in your provider. When the decision-making power is in the hands of someone else (or out of both you and your provider’s hands) and without your full understanding, trust, consent, or permission, this is often perceived as stress, fear, abuse or neglect and results in physical, emotional, or psychological trauma.

Traumatic childbirth can have a wide ripple effect for mothers. The time that a woman perceives she has been traumatized during birth can be compared to a pebble dropped into still water resulting in ripples spreading out in the water. Some of these ripples from traumatic childbirth can impact mothers’ breastfeeding journeys, the anniversary of their traumatic births, and her subsequent births. It can also affect her confidence as a mother, transition into motherhood, and lead to postpartum anxiety and depression.

Feeling upset or distressed by what happened when you were giving birth may mean you've experienced birth trauma.

The best way to reduce your chance of birth trauma is to have a strong and trusting relationship with your pregnancy care provider. A provider that listens to you and makes you feel valued is the best provider to have because they will help you feel empowered to make decisions that are right for you. Reducing the amount of medical interventions in labor is also helpful as it will decrease complications of childbirth that tend to be perceived as scary, urgent, or sudden, ie. an emergent cesarean birth.