Dad accused of 'birth-shaming' other mums after his fiancee has drug-free birth

Why are drug free births still seen as a badge of honour? That’s the question being asked by furious mums after the English soccer captain, Harry Kane, praised his fiancée on Twitter “for having the most amazing water birth with no pain relief at all #mygirls #hypnobirthing”.

The proud dad clearly had no idea of the controversy he was starting when he wrote the comment after the birth of his second daughter, Vivienne. But critics quickly weighed in with angry mums defending their decision to choose pain-relief during long labours.

 “Please don't promote drug-free births as better than others. We all give birth how we give birth, just like we parent how we parent. Doesn’t make anyone better than anyone else,” said one follower.

 “Way to make mothers feel terrible if they ask for an epidural,” said another.

As a result, Harry Kane, who is engaged to Kate Goodland, had to tweet another message to try to calm the angry waters. “Any woman can give birth however they would like,” he wrote. “I’m very proud of my fiancée for doing it how she wanted and we both learnt a lot from hypnobirthing.”

 There’s no doubt that labour hurts. The Birth Trauma Association says up to 200,000 women a year may develop PTSD following the birth of their child. And while it seems we’re all happy to take pain relief when we have a headache, not having it in childbirth is seen as 'better' than asking for an epidural. 

But mums are fighting back, asking other mothers and fathers to stop promoting drug-free births as the bench mark.

 “Let’s all just celebrate births however they happen,” said one Twitter follower of Harry Kane. “Let’s not make birth-shaming a thing.”

 What do you think of it all?