Length of labour doesn’t affect memory of childbirth pain

Scientists try to find out if women relate childbirth pains based on the amount of time they were in labour. - Filepic

Women who experience a long childbirth won’t necessarily remember it as being more painful than a short one, according to research.

“This phenomenon – called duration neglect – is particularly interesting given the common use of epidural analgesia,” says psychological scientist Eran Chajut of the Open University of Israel, one of the authors of the study. The research was conducted by the Open University of Israel and Duke University. “This form of analgesia was developed mainly to counter labour pain, but its everlasting influence on the memory of childbirth is important as well.”