If you’re considering a home birth, this page will give you the information you need to make an informed choice. It includes details on the benefits and risks, what to expect, and what you will need to prepare.

If you decide to plan a home birth, your community midwife will support you in your choice and help you to prepare for your birth.

During a home birth, a community midwife will come to your home to look after you during labour and for a short while after the birth of your baby. 

  • According to an NCT report in 2008, women report feeling much more satisfied with their birth experience at home when compared to a hospital birth
  • You’ll be in familiar surroundings, which may help you feel more relaxed and more confident in your body’s ability to birth your baby
  • You won’t need to worry about getting to hospital during your labour
  • You won’t need to leave your older children or organise child care, if you’re happy for them to be nearby during and after the birth of your baby
  • Pain relief at home includes the use of a birthing pool, tens machine, relaxation techniques and Entonox (gas and air)
  • The 2008 NCT report states that women giving birth at home reported feeling more relaxed, in control and able to cope with the pain of their contractions. They also report needing fewer drugs for pain relief
  • You won’t be separated from your partner or birth support after the birth
  • You’re more likely to be cared for by the team of midwives you met in the course of your pregnancy
  • There’s less risk of acquiring infections which may be present in hospital

  • If the midwife feels your labour is not progressing as it should, or complications arise, they may advise you that you need to be transferred to hospital. This can cause anxiety for you and your family.
  • Pain relief at home is limited to the use of a birth pool, tens machine, relaxation techniques and Entonox (gas and air). If you require anything further (such as opioids or an epidural), you will need to be transferred to the hospital
  • If you’re not considered to be ‘low risk’ you will need to talk to your midwife and/ or doctor about your wishes for a home birth
  • The homebirth service may be temporarily stopped in some circumstances

Anyone can choose to have a home birth, even if you’re having your first baby. In England and Wales, just over one in 50 people give birth at home.

For ‘low risk’ pregnancies, birth is generally very safe. You’ll be considered low risk if you’re not identified as having particular medical or pregnancy factors before you go into labour.

The number of adverse and serious outcomes is low – around 4.3 in 1,000 births.

These include:

  • Stillbirth
  • Early neonatal death
  • Neonatal encephalopathy (abnormal neurological function, predominantly as a result of lack of oxygen to the brain)
  • Meconium aspiration syndrome (when a newborn breathes a mixture of meconiumand amniotic fluid into the lungs around the time of delivery)
  • Specified birth related injuries

If you are healthy, having an uncomplicated, ‘low risk’ pregnancy with a second or subsequent baby and planning to have your baby at home, having your baby at home is particularly suitable for you. It’s actually as safe to give birth to your baby at home as it is to have your baby on a labour ward or a midwife-led unit.

In a 2020 Birthplace Study, birthing at home was found to substantially reduce the odds of having a Caesarean, instrumental delivery or episiotomy, where the woman was healthy and having an uncomplicated second or subsequent pregnancy. It was also found that only 12% of women needed to be transferred to hospital during labour or immediately after birth, if complications arose.

If this is your first pregnancy and it’s uncomplicated, planning to have your baby at home is slightly less safe for your baby than a hospital birth. There’s a slightly higher risk of your baby being injured, becoming seriously unwell, or dying during or just after birth.

This is still very rare if you’re healthy and having an uncomplicated pregnancy – and can happen in any birth setting. However, in hospital the risk is five in 1,000 compared to nine in 1,000 at home.

However, you are also more likely to have a natural birth and less likely to have interventions such as an episiotomy, Caesarean, or instrumental birth.

If you chose to have your first baby at home, there’s also a higher probability (45%) of needing to be transferred to hospital during labour or just after birth.

If you’re at increased risk of complications, we’re likely to advise against you having a home birth, and recommended to have your baby on a labour ward.

You can discuss your wishes with your midwife and doctor and, if you still wish to have your baby at home, an enhanced birth plan can be made to manage these risks and consider factors to increase safety.

Once you’re in established labour, the midwives – who will stay with you – will be helping and supporting you. You will have discussed what method of coping/ support during labour you would prefer with your midwife at your birth plan appointment.

There are lots of options for pain relief for your labour and birth.

You may wish to consider self-help and natural pain relief techniques, such as relaxation and breathing; aromatherapy; hypnobirthing; being active and changing position regularly; and using a birth pool. All of these methods are completely natural. Your birth partner is also very important when helping you cope in labour, as they can support you in positions, give you emotional support, and use massage.

Water birth

You can have a home water birth but you will need to hire or buy your own birthing pool and have it ready for your labour. Pool hire may be available locally – ask your midwife for details. Being submerged in water in your labour can help you relax and make the contractions seem less painful. It also allows you to be more mobile,, as the water buoyancy will help to make you feel weightless. The water will need to be kept at a warm, comfortable temperature.

TENS Machine

You may also wish to purchase or hire a TENS machine. The use of a TENS machine involved taping electrodes on to your back, which are connected by wires to a small, battery-powered stimulator. Holding this, you give yourself small, safe amounts of electrical currents through the electrodes. You can also move around while using TENS – although you can’t use it in the bath or birth pool.

TENS is believed to work by stimulating the body to produce more of its own natural painkillers, called endorphins. It also reduces the number of pain signals sent to the brain by the spinal cord.

Entonox (gas and air)

You’ll have access to Entonox (gas and air), which will be brought to your house by your midwife.

Opioid drugs and epidurals are not available at home so, should you want to have stronger pain relief, you will need to be transferred into hospital.