Letter: The baby is the only thing sacred in childbirth

Louise Chunn is patronising and misleading. In common with most NCT teachers and in line with NCT policy, in my teaching I try to prepare pregnant women and their partners to cope with whatever may occur during labour and birth. Women learn about all options open to them in terms of pain relief, delivery positions, place of delivery, carer, and birth companion. We also teach that Caesarean section is a major operation with morbidity rates for the mother higher than after a vaginal delivery. But we support those mothers who elect to have a Caesarean. The NCT recently published Caesarean Birth: your questions answered which addresses the issue of elective Caesarean in an open and supportive way.

All complaints about antenatal teaching received from class members are investigated thoroughly. It is telling that in 1996 more than 12,000 women chose NCT classes.

Jan Hibbert

Hampton, Middlesex