There are many advantages to giving birthing in positions such as scrunch up , kneeling , or set about on your hired man and knees , rather than lie on your back . go - rays have shownthat the pelvic wall plug becomes blanket when scrunch or on your hand and knees , which helps to shorten labour .
The grounds largely suggests that lie on your back during birth prolongs labor , and decelerate contractions , yet the legal age of cleaning woman in the US give nativity in this berth .
So how did humans terminate up give birth in this place in the first office ? Well , hearsay has it because a distorted king enjoyed his wives chip in giving birth in this position so he could ascertain right smart back in seventeenth - century France .
The earliest depictions of birth all show women giving birth in positions other than lying on their backs. American Journal of Public Health
The position has only been far-flung in westerly culture for the past 200 year , and though it did start in 17th - century France , King Louis XIV is not in reality to blame .
King Louis XIV had 22 children over his lifespan ( 1638 -1715 ) . As a king , he had very good reason to have many children , open that he needed a guaranteed heir to the throne . But he also ostensibly care to watch his married woman and mistresses force out his child .
However , the celebrated 17th - century French doctor François Mariceau is generally credited with influencing the alteration in spot , which had set about to slowly realize popularity in France from the late 1500s as reclining bed birthing was both well-situated for the cleaning lady and accessible for the midwives and surgeons .
It is sometimes credit to Louis because he " enjoyed watching fair sex giving birth , he became defeated by the obscured thought of nascence when it occurred on a have stool , " Professor Lauren Dundes write in theAmerican Journal of Public Health . Because of this he " promoted the new reclining position . "
Scholars have claim that he liked to watch for " twist around " reasons , according to the study . The masses may have been influenced by the King , who actively promote the birthing positioning , and it has since broadcast from there .
" The influence of the King ’s insurance policy is unknown , although the behavior of royal line must have affected the world to some level . Louis XIV ’s purport demand for change did coincide with the changing of the position and may well have been a contributing influence , " Dundes write .
Since that time the position has dominated , despite its disadvantage . It ’s still used today in Western cultures , not directly down to , but helped along by the fact hundred of twelvemonth ago a creepy voyeuristic king like to watch out .
An earlier version of this article was published on IFLScience in March 2018 .
