Women who have a natural birth form stronger bonds with their babies than those who deliver by Caesarean section, researchers say. Stimulation of the cervix and vagina during natural birth releases hormones that generate powerful feelings critical to a woman’s performance as a mother immediately after delivery. But a Caesarean delivery in which the baby is removed from the womb via a surgical incision in the abdominal wall alters the ‘neurohormonal experience’ of birth, increasing the risk that mother and baby will fail to bond. The finding, by American researchers, will raise new concerns about the high numbers of Caesarean births in the UK and other Western countries. The rising age of mothers, a ‘safety first’ medical culture and fears of litigation have seen rates more than double in the UK in the past 20 years. Caesareans now account for one in five of all births. Doctors from the Child Study Centre at Yale University, who used brain scans to study the brain activity of 20 first-time mothers, found those who had delivered vaginally were more responsive to their baby’s cry two to four weeks after delivery. Those who delivered by Caesarean were less responsive. […]