What it is
Birth trauma is the name for a birth that leaves you with flashbacks, nightmares about birth, or a body that panics when the memory comes. Some mothers avoid the hospital, the baby's birthday, or any talk of the birth. Some feel nothing and cannot explain why. When this lasts past a month and gets in the way of life, it is PTSD after birth.
Trauma is in the eye of the mother. It can follow a birth that looked fine on paper. What makes a birth traumatic is most often fear for your life or the baby's, pain that was not helped, or feeling ignored, rushed, or not asked. Emergencies, a cesarean under general anesthesia, a hemorrhage, and a NICU stay all raise the odds.
About 1 in 3 mothers describe some part of their birth as traumatic. Around 3 to 6 in 100 go on to meet the bar for PTSD.
What's typical
In the first weeks, being shaken is normal. Replaying the birth, crying when you tell it, and bad dreams are common and usually ease by four to six weeks. PTSD is when the replay does not fade. Signs: flashbacks that feel like it is happening again, nightmares, avoiding anything that reminds you, being jumpy and on guard, and feeling cut off from the baby or your partner. It can show up months later, often around the first birthday or a new pregnancy.
What's known
The Birth Trauma Association and Postpartum Support International describe postpartum PTSD as real, common, and treatable. Trauma-focused talk therapies, including EMDR and a kind of CBT built for trauma, have the best evidence. Research led by Sharon Dekel at Harvard finds the way a mother was treated during birth predicts trauma more than the medical events do. Many hospitals now offer a birth debrief, where a midwife or doctor walks through your chart with you.
What helps
- Tell the birth to someone who will just listen, as many times as you need. Each telling takes a little charge out.
- Ask for your records and a birth debrief. Gaps in the story feed the fear.
- When a flashback comes, name five things you can see. Your body needs proof you are here, now.
- Find a therapist who says 'birth trauma' on their page. Not every therapist is trained in it.
When to call someone
- Nowthoughts of ending your life or hurting yourself. Call or text 988, or call 911.
- Todayyou cannot sleep because of nightmares, or you feel unreal or outside your body most of the day.
- Todayyou are avoiding the baby, or you cannot stop shaking when the birth comes up. Call your provider or the Maternal Mental Health Hotline, 1-833-852-6262.
- At your next visitthe birth still replays after a month, or you dread talking about it. Ask for a debrief and a perinatal therapist who works with trauma.
Who helps
Tools: My Birth Team · Birthworker Directory
Related
- Telling your birth storyBirth and the First Days
- When birth didn't go to planBirth and the First Days
- Heavy bleeding after birth (hemorrhage)Birth and the First Days
- When your baby is in the NICUBirth and the First Days
- Postpartum anxietyPostpartum: Mind
- When to get help, and who to call tonightPostpartum: Mind
What mothers here say
No one has posted under this topic yet. The first experience here will help the next mother who searches for it at 2 a.m.
Experiences and questions are their authors' own, not reviewed advice. The topic's steward lists the ones that help most in a credited digest once there is one. Unusual experiences stay, with a note.
Sources
- Birth Trauma Association — What is birth trauma
- Postpartum Support International — Postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder
- MGH Postpartum Traumatic Stress Disorders Research Program (Dekel lab) — Research summary on childbirth-related PTSD
Sources are named, not yet linked. The steward verifies each one and adds the link.
Steward this topic
Birthworkers listed in our directory can claim a topic, verify its sources, and curate what mothers share here. Your name and credential go at the top of the page. Takes about an hour the first time.
Find your directory page