by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Pregnancy

Having someone to support you continuously during labor ? whether it?s your partner, a friend, family member or hospital worker ? can make for an easier birth, a recent review suggests.
The review of 26 studies, published by the Cochrane Library, found that women who had a supportive presence with them throughout their labor were less likely to need pain medication and more likely to have a vaginal delivery than women who didn?t receive constant help during labor.
Types of support ranged from simply talking and offering encouraging words to a woman during labor to providing massages, warm baths, and advocating for the woman?s wellbeing. Altogether, the studies included more than 15,000 women in 17 countries. Women appeared to benefit regardless of who provided the support, whether it was a husband, family member, friend, nurse, midwife or doula.  
As well as needing less pain medication and surgical intervention, receiving continuous support was tied to shorter labor and women reporting greater satisfaction with their labor experience.
Even the babies of the supported moms seemed to benefit, the study found. The infants of moms who received constant help scored higher on basic wellbeing tests for newborns than the babies of moms who did not get that kind of support.
Some of the studies in the review were not as well designed or conclusive as others. The researchers called for more studies to identify exactly what type of sup...