New dads are being left so traumatised after watching their partners give birth some are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
A new study has proved that complications in pregnancy can have a big impact on fathers as well as mothers, Daily Mail reports.
The researchers at Oxford University interviewed men about their experiences after their partners experienced complications during birth.
Most men admitted they felt they couldn’t talk about their feelings because the attention was on the new mum and baby.
The researchers are now calling on hospitals to pay more attention to the partners of women who have had difficult births.
Some men spoke of waiting in hospital corridors for hours without knowing what was going on.
One man spoke to the researchers about his own experience.
Forty-three-year-old Mark Booth said he was “just put in a corner” while his wife had a difficult birth.
Although both mum and baby are healthy and well now, he said he gets flashbacks of seeing the placenta on the table because he didn’t know it was.
“That was the most traumatic moment for me because I didn’t know if the baby was dead or alive, and then two nurses came out with an empty incubator, but didn’t speak to me,” he said.
The experts are now calling for “follow-up” care for the fathers.
Dr Lisa Hinton, who carried out the interviews with mothers and fathers, said: “The online resource at www.healthtalkonline.org should help with both the need of mothers and fathers to hear others’ experiences of complications in childbirth, and also provide information for health professionals.”
Healthtalkonline is the award-winning website of the UK charity DIPEx.
