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Midwife's advice on shaving pubic hair is a hit with pregnant women

[Photo: Getty]
[Photo: Getty]

A midwife’s candid advice about what pregnant women should do with their pubic hair pre-birth is currently winning the Internet.

In a post shared to Reddit titled: ‘Birth and pubic hair. From a midwife’ the advice given was reassuringly frank.

“Please don’t worry about pubic hair. We don’t even notice as long as you have showered in the last week,” the midwife wrote.

“As long as the baby can come out, we don’t care if you’re full bush, bald as a baby, or something exciting like a lightening bolt/vajazzled. I don’t even notice any more.”

And because some women just aren’t sure whether they’re meant to take a razor to their bits up front, say for example if they’re having a caesarean, the midwife cleared that up to.

“It doesn’t affect stitches or anything to do with our work,” she continued. “If you have a C-section we can shave the important part for you with a sterile razor.”

The midwife went on to cite the difficulties of trying to reach round your bump to beautify your bits as a reason for not bothering.

“Please don’t get yourself into an uncomfortable position trying to do something for us, cause we won’t even notice. It’s like getting your hair done and your husband/friends not even noticing,” she finished her post.

And mums and other healthcare professionals were quick to praise the midwife for her refreshing post.

“As an ob/gyn – 100% agreed. And it’s not only pubic hair… haemorrhoids [sic], interesting tattoos and piercings in your nether areas… anyone who’s been delivering babies for a few years has seen it all. Aside from safety and some basic hygiene, it really doesn’t bother us,” one user wrote.

“I have never done any landscaping in that area and no doctor has ever been anything but professional,” another mum agreed. “You should assume they have seen all variations.”

So what do other professionals think about the midwife’s candid advise?

“Many women seem to believe they should shave or wax their pubis and vulva for childbirth, but it is completely unnecessary,” agrees Liz Halliday, Deputy Head of Midwifery at Private Midwives.

“Pubic hair is not only a normal and natural part of the human body, but it also provides a function, reducing risks of infection in the vagina.”

Like the midwife in the Reddit post, Lesley Gilchrist, founder of My Expert Midwife and expert at The Baby Show agrees that the hair (or lack of) down-there makes little difference to midwives.

“Pubic hair is there for a reason and enables the absorption of sweat and bacteria in the area,” she says.

Halliday does note that shaving could slightly increase the risk of infection. But, otherwise, the hair, or lack of, you have on your nether regions makes no difference to midwives or the birth procedure.

“Vaginal birth is not affected at all by the presence of pubic hair, neither are procedures such as episiotomy, instrumental delivery (ventouse or forceps) or suturing of the perineum,” she says. “In the event of a c-section, a small area of pubic hair may be shaved just before going to theatre if required. A sterile razor is always available to midwives should this be necessary.”

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