OTTAWA, March 24, 2009 – The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, today released new findings on how women experience pregnancy, labour and birth, as well as the early months of motherhood. These findings provide a first-ever look at maternity experiences, as reported by women themselves.
“Pregnancy can be an exciting but intimidating time in a woman's life. What happens in pregnancy, birth and early motherhood affects both the mother and the child,” said Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. “Our Government is proud to be helping Canadian women better prepare for pregnancy, labour, birth and some postpartum practices.”
The new findings come from the Maternity Experiences Survey, which asked new mothers a range of questions about their experiences during pregnancy, labour and birth and the postpartum period.
The Survey found that most Canadian women believe their labour and birth was a positive experience and express high levels of satisfaction with their maternity care. In general, Canadian women surveyed followed healthy practices during their pregnancy – including avoiding smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
Some women, however, continue practices that are not recommended by medical experts such as continuous use of electronic fetal monitoring to check the baby's heart rate during labour. It was also noted that many women are not breastfeeding for the full first six months after the birth of their child. Breastfeeding is well recognized as important to the health of the mother and the baby.
The Government of Canada works with many partners to carry out a range of activities to help pregnant women, new mothers and babies maintain and improve their health. These activities include the collection, tracking, analysis and sharing of health information, community-based health promotion and disease prevention for at-risk mothers and children.
More than 6,000 women were surveyed across Canada between October 2006 and January 2007 for this new Maternity Experiences Survey.The information will help health care providers, public health officials, and policy makers work towards improved maternity health services and better maternal and infant health in Canada.
Information gathered by the Survey is available in two reports: “What Mothers Say: The Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey” and “Mothers' Voices —What women say about pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood.” Both reports are available at www.publichealth.gc.ca/mes.
For more information, please contact:
Josée Bellemare
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Health
(613) 957-0200
Andrew McDermott
Media Relations
Public Health Agency of Canada
(613) 941-8189
