'Water Birth' is written for expectant parents and their birth attendants. It is the first book to give comprehensive and practical information on the use of water throughout pregnancy, birth and during infancy. Modern maternity practices are changing. Today more women are seeking to avoid the routine 'high tech' approach and are choosing to give birth using natural and active methods. For many, this means deliberately choosing to labour and give birth in or near to water. Introducing a deep pool of warm water to the birthing room is a way to make labour shorter, easier and more comfortable. It increases the mother's sense of privacy and makes the baby's entry into the world gentle and free from trauma, whether the birth occurs in or beside the pool. The benefits of the use of water are now being widely recognised and birth pools are to be found in increasing numbers of hospitals and can be hired and easily installed at home.

'Water Birth' is straightforward and detailed, reassuring and supportive. A companion volume to 'New Active Birth', it provides encouragement and all the necessary advice for parents contemplating a waterbirth and the midwives who will attend them in labour.