Homebirth vs Hospital Birth

What I often hear from people is ‘I’d love a home birth but I want the security of hospital in case anything happens”

Let’s dissect that:

In 2019, a large systematic review and meta-analysis was published in The Lancet. It looked at 14 studies including data from around 500,000 intended home births. The authors found that, “The risk of perinatal or neonatal mortality was not different when birth was intended at home or in hospital.” (Hutton et al 2019).

The researchers noted that, “Meta-analysis indicated that women planning hospital births had statistically significantly lower odds of normal vaginal birth than in other planned settings. Women experienced severe perineal trauma or haemorrhage at a lower rate in planned home births than in obstetric units. There were no statistically significant differences in infant mortality by planned place of birth. High -quality evidence about low-risk pregnancies indicates that place of birth had no statistically significant impact on infant mortality. The lower odds of maternal morbidity and obstetric intervention support the expansion of birth centre and home birth options for women with low-risk pregnancies.” (Scarf et al 2018).

“Evidence from observational studies suggests that planned hospital birth does not reduce mortality but may lead to more interventions, more complications, and more neonatal problems.” (Olsen & Clausen 2023).
In summary it has been found that birthing at home is just as safe for you and baby as birthing in hospital. But if you birthed in hospital you have a much higher chance of intervention even if you were deemed low risk.