The joke used to be that the midwife sends the expectant father off to boil water to get him out of the way. Turns out she should have been listening to her midgrand…mother :
Pads soaked in warm water, first documented by the Greek philosopher Aristotle more than 2300 years ago and used for centuries by midwives to reduce pain during the second stage of labour, could soon make a comeback in delivery wards across Sydney thanks to a seven-year study at Royal Prince Alfred and Canterbury hospitals.
More than 700 first-time mothers participated in the trial, run by the secretary of the NSW Midwives Association, Hannah Dahlen, with the results proving “sometimes old wives know best”.
The study, published in the international journal Birth, found that when a warm cloth or pad was applied to a woman’s perineum as the baby’s head began pressing on it, tearing was significantly reduced, women reported a 50 per cent reduction in urinary incontinence and were more likely to resume sex within six to 12 weeks after the birth.
The use of warm packs had no effect on the number of women who required suturing after birth, but significantly reduced the severity of perineal tears.