Question

In our hospital, we have recently acquired a very nice Swedish obstetrician and we had a seminar on: “How do the Nordics do it?”. 

In the Nordic countries there are very few “formal” midwife units, but still they have very low CS rates (14% in Iceland), and excellent outcomes.  

We discussed in particular the work of Mary Blomberg and co-workers.  At the end of the discussion, we came to the idea that it is more about “values” and “lifestyle” than anything else.  The little Swedish children spend their time facing the tough weather, possibly even camping in the snow.  And not challenging everything all the time.  And when pregnancy and childbirth occur, the Nordic  woman-who-has camped-in-the-snow doesn’t go through the throes of intense self-questioning, and just does it (SVD without epidural, followed by long and efficient breast feeding).

DO you believe this?

Sophie