The story so far: In late June, a Tamil Nadu woman, 32, died from a postpartum haemorrhage and other complications. According to the police, the woman died after a medically unassisted birth at home where family members allegedly helped her by watching YouTube videos for guidance. She leaves behind both her newborn and an older daughter. According to the initial police reports, the couple had wanted a “natural delivery.”
Around the world, more people who want to give birth at home or without doctors and surgeries are going to Reddit, Instagram, and YouTube to both give and get medical guidance. This unvetted, high-risk content could cost the lives of more parents and newborns.
Is social media promoting childbirth without doctors?
Social media companies with millions of users — Google-owned YouTube and Meta-owned Instagram — are allowing content creators to share unscientific advice, as well as make money from videos that document and promote home births with only a midwife. On Reddit, most home birthing content is text-based but still poses risks.
For example, a home birth YouTube vlog posted in November 2025 with over 146,000 views showed the mother touting a “2-HOUR PAIN FREE HOME BIRTH!” in a small pool, as well as promoting a religious birthing course and app. The mother said she gave birth at 42 weeks, and claimed she experienced a “healthy, supernatural labor”. The vlog claimed that the midwife “finally got there only a few minutes before the baby’s arrival” and that the family waited 90 seconds for the newborn’s first breath, which is far longer than the accepted standard.
Another “natural home birth” vlog that was documenting the mother’s labour ended with an emergency hospital delivery after meconium (the baby’s very sticky first faeces) was detected before birth, upping the risk of potential infection should the baby inhale this via the amniotic fluid (meconium aspiration).
“Not the outcome we hoped for, but grateful to the NHS for keeping me and baby safe,” stated the description of the mother’s video from September that had over 420,000 views.
Multiple similar home birth vlogs contained links to online storefronts and other social media channels, or promoted products and coupon codes and affiliate links. This allows home birthers to directly profit from their content and view counts. But monetising childbirth vlogs brings up ethical concerns as birth videos include footage of the naked newborn and/or the mother in an undressed and vulnerable state.
On Instagram, several free birth influencers claim that they are going through their pregnancies without any doctors’ appointments or ultrasound scans. Other free or home birthers on Instagram recommended extending pregnancies well beyond 41 weeks (to avoid being induced at a hospital), even though such delays without medical clearance can increase the chances of a stillborn baby. Free birth influencers and even some midwives online share frightening anecdotes about patient abuse, and push the false idea that women’s bodies are made to birth babies without outside help.
In Reddit’s Home Birth community, forum rules ban medical advice. However, this rule is openly flouted as people often ask sensitive medical questions, with other users’ answers presented as opinions or personal stories.
One pregnant user in the Reddit Home Birth community, for example, posted that they had multiple high blood pressure readings. They dismissed these readings and declined a hospital-recommended induction. Instead, they asked Reddit users about taking a specific oil. This Reddit poster also minimised the potential risks of that oil causing the baby to pass faeces (meconium) before birth.
The work of free birth influencers online has already led to fatal consequences in the offline world. Take the Free Birth Society movement — with 72,000 subscribers on YouTube and 134,000 followers on Instagram — that has been named in relation to multiple baby injuries and deaths around the world, per an investigation by The Guardian. The founder has continued to promote highly unscientific videos, as well as her business, on social media.
Unlike the health content shared online during the COVID-19 pandemic that came with compulsory medical disclaimers, home birthing videos on YouTube and Instagram lack formal warnings about the dangers of giving birth in one’s house (home birth) or without doctors present (free birth).
Why do people choose home births or free births?
There are valid reasons why these practices still exist. Many pregnant women on forums such as Reddit have posted about traumatising birthing experiences at hospitals, such as being ignored or assaulted by healthcare professionals, being pressured into caesarean deliveries, having surgeons cut them without warning, not being given adequate pain relief, and having their bodies and babies handled roughly.
For their part, home birthers portray their deliveries as being quiet, peaceful, luxurious, and even spiritual. Edited vlogs and curated clips on social media show the birthing parents being cared for by their partners, midwife, and other children for hours on end. Many are seen seated in a pool of warm water while surrounded by soft lights, nature, prayers, soothing music, snacks, and even photographers. In multiple such videos, rushing to the hospital to be induced or undergo a C-section is often framed as a catastrophe to be avoided until the very last minute. But when such practices are normalised, hospital doctors and nurses face increased pressure; instead of a monitored delivery, they are dealing with a medical emergency.
In truth, the popularity of free birthing and home birthing can be seen as a response to the failure of hospitals to give pregnant parents the standard of care that they require. But as influencers leverage both trauma and technology in order to promote life-threatening birthing practices on social media, what viewers must really see is the dangerous absence of regulation.
Key terms to know when discussing childbirth methods:
Free Birth: This practice refers to a medically unassisted birth, or the act of giving birth outside of legally regulated medical environments and without certified medical professionals present to provide expert care. Free birthing is dangerous, as emergency symptoms can be easily missed by non-experts who are assisting.
Home Birth: This refers to the practice of giving birth at home, whether that means in one’s own bed or in a birthing tub/pool. Medical professionals may or may not be involved. A home birth is not always a free birth, as doctors, licensed midwives, and nurses might have been hired to provide specialised medical care, even if the birth is taking place outside of a hospital.
Water Birth: Some parents choose to give birth in a small pool or tub that is filled with warm water. This is done at home or at specialised birthing centres under supervision. Water births are credited with easing the pain and discomfort the parent experiences while giving birth. The baby is born underwater and quickly brought to the surface to breathe. Medical professionals may or may not be present to provide care. If done incorrectly or for too long, the newborn can drown. A water birth is not safe for high-risk pregnancies.
“Normal” or “Natural” Delivery: This means a vaginal delivery, or delivering the baby through the vagina without specialised medical interventions. These terms have been criticised for stigmatising other methods of giving birth — such as via a Caesarean delivery — by implying they are unnatural or abnormal. The term “vaginal delivery” can be used for accuracy instead.
Published – August 01, 2026 08:00 am IST
