Fetal Ejection Reflex

childbirth

nataliebroders.com > blog >

Natalie Broders

March 13, 2019

Written by:

When a birthing mother is allowed to feel safe and secure in the privacy of a dark room surrounded by people she knows and trusts, she is 10 times more likely to experience the Fetal Ejection Reflex (FER) during the second stage of labor (pushing).

It’s widely known that when a woman experiences stress or perceived danger, her labor slows and can even stop! That could be a new person coming into the room she’s never met before, someone switching a bright light on, making an offhand remark.

The Fetal Ejection Reflex has been compared to throwing up, something your body does completely involuntarily. Oxytocin triggers contractions that expel the baby from the body without the mother consciously making an effort to push her baby; her body does it for her.

If you’ve given birth, did you experience the Fetal Ejection Reflex? What was it like?

Portland Birth Photographer

Birth Doula & Videographer

Natalie Broders is a birth photographer, birth videographer and birth doula located in Portland, Oregon. She lives on a farm with her husband and 2 kids. They raise chickens and love to garden. Natalie loves babywearing, cloth diapering and is passionate about her work as an advocate for birthing people as a labor and birth doula. She had one of her babies at a birth center and her second baby was born at home, in water.

Follow me