Things like social media are supposed to be there to help mums - sites like Musmet and Facebook were set up with the aim to connect people and make things easier to discuss.

 

However, it seems like these very websites are doing the opposite.

 

Experiences spoken about online are supposed to lessen the worry and fear for mums and mums-to-be when it comes to things like childbirth.

 

But what happens when these stories become a no-holds-barred type of thing? What happens when candid becomes just gruesome?

 

Catriona Jones, a senior research fellow at the University of Hull recently spoke about the “horror stories” that can be found online which are contributing to the rise of tocophobia; a phobia of childbirth.

 

 

“If you go into Mumsnet forums, women are telling stories about childbirth ‘it’s terrible, it’s a bloodbath’. I think that can be difficult to deal with,” she said.

 

This blunt recounting of birth tales is responsible for traumatising pregnant women and putting some off childbirth altogether and honestly, who can blame them? 

 

Catriona explained how she was asked to research tocophobia after the NHS noticed a rise in pregnant women asking for caesareans because they were scared to give birth vaginally.


“They came to us and said that women were being referred to them late on in pregnancy and they were having to work with them to unpick their fear of childbirth,” she said.

 


Netmums editor-in-chief, Annie O'Leary doesn't believe that online stories are affecting mums negatively. 


“Most mums see it as a positive that we live in an age where we can have discussions about birth that are true, accurate and real without it being shrouded in secrecy," she says.

 

What do you think - should we avoid reading about other people births on sites like Facebook and Mumsnet?

 

Or is it a good thing that different experiences are being spoken about so openly? 

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