{"id":5335,"date":"2026-06-24T10:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/?page_id=5335"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:13:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:13:22","slug":"birth-reducing-tears-when-giving-birth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/birth-reducing-tears-when-giving-birth\/","title":{"rendered":"Birth \u2013 reducing tears when giving birth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What this is about<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">When the baby\u2019s head comes out, the surrounding skin (also called \u2018perineum\u2019) often stretches and tears a little. For most women, these tears are minor and heal quickly on their own. Occasionally, a deeper tear can happen, called a 3rd or 4th degree tear. These are uncommon but need to be repaired with surgery and take longer to heal. In 2024, around 6 in every 100 people giving birth in Lothian had a 3rd or 4th degree tear, compared with 4 in 100 across Scotland. Because our rate was higher than the Scottish average, we made reducing tears a priority and started a specific improvement programme in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What we are doing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your midwife will offer to show you how to massage your perineum during pregnancy and explain how this can help reduce the chance of having a tear when giving birth<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>During labour, your midwife will explain what techniques can be used to reduce the chance of tearing when your baby is born.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you suffer a deeper tear, you will be offered follow-up care, including physiotherapy and access to specialist support clinics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Our approach follows national best practice, known as the OASI Care Bundle, which is supported by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcog.org.uk\/guidance\/browse-all-guidance\/other-guidelines-and-reports\/oasi-care-bundle\/\">Find out more about the OASI Care Bundle on the RCOG website.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How this helps you<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By focusing on prevention, fewer women experience a deeper tear. If one does happen, it is identified quickly, repaired effectively, and followed up with the right support to aid recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Our progress<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the start of our improvement work, we have already seen a reduction from 6 in every 100 women to now 5 in 100 women giving birth in Lothian experiencing a 3<sup>rd<\/sup> or 4<sup>th<\/sup> degree tear \u2014 and we are aiming to reduce this further to less than 4 in 100 women by March 2027, in line with the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What you can do<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When talking about your preferences for labour and birth, ask your midwife about the different techniques that can be offered to you to help reduce tearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/maternity-improvement-programme-easy-read\/\">Click here to go back to the<br>Maternity Improvement Programme: Easy Read main page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What this is about When the baby&rsquo;s head comes out, the surrounding skin (also called &lsquo;perineum&rsquo;) often stretches and tears a little. For most women, these tears are minor and heal quickly on their own. Occasionally, a deeper tear can happen, called a 3rd or 4th degree tear. These are uncommon but need to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-5335","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"scottsamson","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/author\/scottsamson\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"What this is about When the baby&rsquo;s head comes out, the surrounding skin (also called &lsquo;perineum&rsquo;) often stretches and tears a little. For most women, these tears are minor and heal quickly on their own. Occasionally, a deeper tear can happen, called a 3rd or 4th degree tear. These are uncommon but need to be","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5335"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5894,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5335\/revisions\/5894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/maternity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}