IT’S TIME TO DEBUNK THIS ‘TOO POSH TO PUSH’ MYTH

THERE’S a poisonous term that’s sometimes levelled at mothers: too posh to push. It drives me wild. It’s levelled at women who’ve elected to give birth by caesarean section – as one in four do. The majority do so on medical advice, as a vaginal birth might risk the health, and even life, of mother and baby. A minority are simply too frightened.

But ‘too posh to push’ panders to the idea that there are scores of women out there who simply can’t be bothered to go through labour, and want a quick fix. In more than two decades as a GP, I’ve never come across a real-life example of this. And the idea that a natural birth is preferable is frankly dangerous. Really, it’s no one’s business why women choose to give birth the way they do – and neither method is better than the other. Where does this pressure come from? Not doctors, surely. I’d like to know what you think. Write to me.