According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of home births in the U.S. increased by 29 percent from 2004 to 2009, going from 0.56 to 0.72 percent of births. But is it safe to have your baby at home? According to a new study from the Netherlands, it may actually be safer than having your baby at a hospital – but not by much, and only if you have what’s considered a low-risk pregnancy.

The study looked at women who had already had one baby and had minimal complication risks in their current pregnancy. Among these women, about 1 in 1,000 had severe complications when giving birth at home. Meanwhile, about 2.3 in 1,000 had severe complications when giving birth at a hospital. Examples of severe complications include requiring a transfer to the ICU (intensive care unit) or a significant blood transfusion.

Home Births – Fewer Complications than Hospital Births?

A total of 146,000 women were included in the study, all of whom were classified as having low-risk pregnancies. Over 92,000 of the women were planning a home birth, while the remaining 54,000 were planning a hospital birth instead. If this fact alone seems shocking to American readers, it’s important to note that the Netherlands has one of the highest rates of at-home births out of all developed Western countries.

Overall, the researchers found that both groups ended up facing a very small risk of complications, and nothing indicated that giving birth at home would increase the chance of having severe complications. In fact, they found that women who gave birth at home were less likely to experience complications such as requiring manual removal of the placenta or postpartum bleeding. About 37.6 out of 1,000 hospital births included postpartum hemorrhaging, while the same was true of just 19.6 out of 1,000 at-home births.

The researchers were careful to account for many factors that could have influenced birth complication risk, such as whether a C-section had been performed in a previous pregnancy, the mother’s age, and the mother’s ethnicity.

Unthinkable for Mainstream American Women?

Many women would balk at the idea of giving birth at home without the “safety net” of a fully staffed and equipped hospital surrounding them. Although this is certainly a valid concern, the topic may warrant more debate than it receives in Western circles. One side of the argument states that if a woman experiences an unexpected complication while giving birth at home, potentially precious minutes are lost as the woman is transported to the hospital, potentially endangering the welfare of the woman, her baby or both.

The other side of the coin, according to the researchers behind the Dutch study, is that women are by default advised to give birth in a hospital, even if they have an extremely low risk of complications, where they could be subjected to unnecessary treatments that may do more harm than good.

But could this same data apply to America? It’s difficult to say, largely because the Netherlands has such a high rate of home births, which necessitates a high number of trained midwives that can assist with an at-home birth. In addition, the longer it takes to transport the woman to a hospital in the event of an emergency, the riskier a home birth becomes.

The Bottom Line

Home births aren’t for everyone, but a new study by Dutch researchers indicates that they carry a lower risk of severe complications for women with low-risk pregnancies. Home births are safest in the presence of a trained midwife, with a hospital a short driving distance away in case of an emergency, according to the researchers.

The full text of the study can be found online in the medical journal BMJ.