The Hidden Cost of Socialized Birth: reclaiming the Power of Natural Childbirth

Over the past century, childbirth has shifted from a relational, intimate, instinctual experience to a highly managed, medicalized event - a process now referred to as socialized birth. This transformation, while bringing undeniable improvements in maternal and infant mortality when needed, has also created unintended consequences: namely, the suppression of natural birth physiology and a growing cultural belief that women are incapable of giving birth without external help. Understanding the implications of this shift is essential if we want to support and empower women in reclaiming their natural birthing capacity.


The Historical Shift: From Relational to Socialized
Historically, birth was an intimate, and often relational event. Women birthed instinctively, guided by their bodies and surrounded, at most, by a trusted companion and other helping women with how they were connected with. But as societies became more complex and hierarchical, birth began to be socialized. Rituals, beliefs, and community practices began to shape birth experiences. While some of these practices offered support, many interfered with nature’s design - such as discarding colostrum, the vital first milk, or delaying breastfeeding, which disrupted the natural bond and immune protection between mother and child.

In modern times, this socialization has evolved into full-scale medicalization. Birth now typically occurs in bright, clinical hospital settings, with strangers in attendance and a cascade of interventions, from continuous monitoring and epidurals to scheduled inductions and cesarean sections. In this environment, the natural hormonal orchestration of childbirth is often interrupted, replaced by artificial substitutes that don't fully mimic the body's own timing and intelligence.


The Role of the Neocortex: When Thinking Gets in the Way
A key reason why socialized birth can inhibit natural childbirth lies in the brain - specifically, the neocortex, or the "thinking brain." In order for childbirth to progress smoothly, the older parts of the brain, particularly those governing instincts and hormonal release, need to dominate. But in modern birth settings, the neocortex is constantly stimulated: bright lights, unfamiliar voices, examinations, and a sense of being watched all keep the thinking brain active. This over-activation can slow or even stop childbirth, leading to increased pain, exhaustion, and the perceived need for intervention.

As Michel Odent, the renowned French obstetrician, explains, the neocortex must be inhibited for childbirth to unfold naturally. When a woman is thinking, talking, or analyzing, she disrupts the hormonal flow - especially the release of oxytocin, the hormone essential for contractions, bonding, and emotional safety. Odent emphasizes that environments filled with observation, technology, and conversation can delay or complicate the natural process, whereas a quiet, private, and dimly lit space can allow her primal brain to take over.


Physiologically, women require a sense of safety, privacy, and lack of observation in order to birth naturally. Oxytocin flows most freely when a woman feels unobserved, calm, and emotionally secure. When the neocortex is quiet - when she’s in a dark room, with familiar smells, gentle touch, and emotional support - her body can take over and do what it was designed to do. Unfortunately, many modern birth environments are structured in ways that do the opposite.


The Cultural Consequences
Beyond the physiological effects, the socialization of birth has had deep cultural consequences. It has shaped a widespread belief that childbirth is inherently dangerous and painful, something to be managed rather than experienced. This narrative diminishes women's confidence in their own bodies, replacing trust with fear and reliance on experts and technology. In many societies today, the idea of giving birth alone or with minimal intervention is seen as radical or irresponsible, rather than normal.

As a result, women are more likely to accept unnecessary interventions, schedule inductions or cesareans for convenience or fear, and disconnect from the intuitive, embodied experience of birth. This contributes to a cycle in which natural birth becomes rarer, less understood, and increasingly feared.


Reclaiming the Natural Birth Experience
So how can we support natural birth in modern settings? The answer lies in creating environments and systems that honor and protect the physiology of birth. This doesn’t mean rejecting medical care - far from it. It means aligning care with what science and neurophysiology now tell us about how childbirth works best.

1. Protect the Birth Space: Whether at home, in a birthing center, or in a hospital, the environment should support privacy, low lighting, quiet voices, and limited interruptions. Midwives and doulas trained to protect this space are invaluable.

2. Minimize Neocortical Stimulation: Encourage practices that reduce stimulation of the thinking brain. This includes fewer questions during contractions, minimal examinations, and an emphasis on emotional and physical comfort.

3. Trust the Body: Reinforce the message that women can give birth - just as their ancestors did - by fostering trust in the body’s natural intelligence. Education and storytelling that celebrate physiological birth can help shift cultural narratives.

4. Redefine Support: Birth attendants should act not as controllers, but as guardians of the process. Their role is to support the conditions under which natural hormones can function optimally, not override them with artificial substitutes.

5. Reconnect with Instincts: Encourage practices that bring women back into their bodies - such as prenatal yoga, breathwork, and meditation - which reduce fear and stimulate parasympathetic nervous system activity essential for childbirth.


A New Awareness
Modern neurophysiology gives us the tools to understand birth not just as a mechanical process, but as a deeply neuro-hormonal event. It offers us hope for new approaches that integrate the wisdom of the past with the insights of today. The challenge, and the opportunity, is to re-socialize birth around the needs of the birthing woman and her baby, rather than imposing structures that suppress them. In doing so, we can support natural birth, not as a relic of the past, but as a powerful, living expression of human physiology and feminine strength.

 

 

About the Author
Susana Lopes is the Secretary-General of Prenatal Alliance, an advocate for World Pregnancy Day – March 22, a Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga Teacher, a Pilates Teacher, a Humanized Pregnancy and Birth Advocate, Speaker, and the author of “Yoga e Maternidade”. Her present work includes guiding women to effectively release stress and anxiety from their body and improve their overall health and connection with their baby.