Miranda Kerr with Flynn
She didn’t want a ‘drugged-up baby’. Or at least, that’s what everyone’s saying.
Miranda Kerr has spoken openly about the birth of her son Flynn in an interview with UK Harper’s Bazaar for their August edition.
The 29-year-old said she’d seen birthing videos where “the baby was a little drugged up” when it was placed on its mum’s breast, so chose a natural birth without pain relief.
But in saying so she’s angered mothers who did have an epidural or c-section.
Kerr – whose son is now 18 months old – said: “I had made a decision I wanted to do it naturally. So I was kind of upset when the doctor said I had to be induced because there wasn’t enough liquid around the baby.
“She was like, ‘most people who get induced have the epidural. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t.’ And I’m like, ‘I made a plan. I am determined to do this without pain medication’.”
Miranda Kerr
Comments
117 Comments so far
Comments like that annoy me, not because she can’t talk about what she wanted and what happened and how she feels about it, but there is this undertone of “because other people want to shed their baby all doped up”. Some of us want a live baby. That is all. If they’re a touch doped up at birth, well whatever. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than dead baby.
loading...
I love the photo of her breastfeeding her little boy, it is so sweet.
I hope Miranda hasn’t offended too many women out there with her comments. This article is likely to stir up the pot unfortunately.
loading...
Geez what “Blogzilla” wrote this? Nasty, lazy and pathetic work people.
loading...
Can’t tell you how much Miss Kerr annoys me! Argggggh
loading...
Oh sheesh!!! I was induced and no epidural. Only because I was a sook for needles!!!! You’d think I’d learn after 4 kids huh? Poor Miranda just sharing her views, bless! xxDani
http://fitnessfoodandstyle.blogspot.com.au/
loading...
She is just being honest. I had my first 2 with an epidural and they were out of it a bit when they were born. My third was easier to attach after no drugs. Maybe it hurts to hear and maybe my third just had a better suck reflex but it does make sense. They are attached to an umbilical cord. No one should take it personally, We do the best we can at the time of birth and I dont look at my 7 year old and think, gee I wish I didn’t have an epidural.
loading...
I don’t see how this makes Miranda a birthzilla (a disgusting phrase mind you). She is merely expressing her opinion on her own birth plan for her child. I don’t see her saying that’s what everyone has to do. And she was probably responding to questions asked of her by a journo. Leave the woman be.
loading...
Oh God. Yet another reason for me to dislike Miranda Kerr.
Well, Miranda, as one who could not have a natural birth or breastfeed, I’ll just go back into my hole and fly my ‘I didn’t give my sons the best start at life’ flag.
Thanks for the ‘sisterhood solidarity’ boost. Not.
loading...
Why is she still talking about this after 18 months? It’s like an obsession and you hear it over and over and over.
loading...
I relate more to Miranda than to the author of this article. Yucky. And unnecessary.
loading...
I’m incredibly disappointed by this article and cannot understand why it was published. For what possible gain? It looks like a chance to have a dig at Miranda Kerr. Birthzilla as a caption is just nasty and I don’t believe MIranda deserves this.
loading...
shes healthy he is healthy who cares!
loading...
Why is Miranda a Birthzilla for wanting the best for her baby? Come on Mamamia you can’t have it both ways. My reasons for wanting drug free births were for the same reasons, because the drugs do reach the baby and epidurals carry their own risks.
loading...
Somebody once told me that you never forget which celebrities were pregnant at the same time as you. Miranda Kerr was mine. We both had our first child within a week of each other. I failed at having a natural birth, I failed at breastfeeding and I most certainly failed at being back in a bikini 3 months post baby! Is any of this Miranda’s fault? Definitly not. Do I feel inadequate when I read interview with her about this and see photos of her looking amazing? Absolutely. I realise that this is my problem and I own it entirely but I am just being honest. We all put pressure on ourselves and feel dissappointed when things don’t go to plan. It is hard not to compare yourself to people in the public eye. I am glad her birth plan worked out for her and I am sure it was very difficult but I have read about her talking about it so many times now. I think I might pass on reading articles about her in the future for my own sanity.
loading...
Rachel, please don’t say you failed! Did you give birth to a healthy child? Do you love your child and do your best to look after your child? If so you are passing with flying colors
)
loading...
Ditto to what ladybug said..fail is such a harsh word for someone who nurtured and birthed a bub.. Ps my celeb bub was Suri
loading...
Jeeesh…everyone has gotten cranky about this. I am all for people wanting to do things their way, but I think the issue here is the fact that she is a public figure and her opinions are shared in a big way. MANY women have lamented on this site and in life that they feel ripped off, ashamed, upset, whatever, about the fact that they had an epidural…and comments like Miranda’s perpetuate the guilt. I think she should be a little more responsible in what she says – that it was the best decision for HER, but she respects others…which she didn’t say, or even allude to.
And I think Mamamia’s stance on having kids is like mine – doesn’t matter HOW they get here, so long as mama is a alive and bubba is alive…crap like Miranda is spruiking is simply another way to make people feel shitty (this coming from me who had an epidural and LOVED it…and then missed out on it 2nd time around…)
loading...
She’s not ‘spruiking’ anything, she’s recounting her own experience. There is a massive, massive difference.
loading...
Miranda isn’t spruiking crap. How is saying you want the best start for your baby crap?
loading...
Ok – bad choice of phrase. What I mean is, saying things like that tend to imply that other people have made bad choices for their baby…which then leads to unnecessary mummy guilt! Loads of celebs have had babies and not felt the need to go on about birth choices, it just seems unnecessary.
loading...
Why does this site continue to pit women against each other?
loading...
I have no idea why you published this article. You say one thing and do another. What happened to women making choices for themselves? Why is Miranda being ridiculed by Mamamia for having a birth plan and sticking to it?!?!
Its articles like these that make me wonder why I visit this site.
loading...
Thanks Mamamia – you just tipped me over the edge to stop reading. This whole article speaks volumes about the Mamamia brand – your Birthzilla line is totally unnecessary. I didn’t realise how bitchy this website could get! I’m switching off now – and it appears from comments posted that many more will also be switching off…
loading...
I agree, this post is another nail in the coffin for this forum
loading...
Ok. That’s it. Am tired of being baited by this crap. Sorry Mia – you just lost me. No more Twitter, no more blog.
loading...
Why did you write “Birthzilla”?
loading...
They wrote it as a political statement. By saying that women like Miranda Kerr who opted to have a pain free birth for the good of her baby were birthzilla, they are casting her as bad mother and woman, in order to make themselves feel better simply because they could not achieve the same birth outcome.
Note they have now amended the post and the term “birthzilla” has been removed. This habit they have of amending posts and re-writing history is bloody annoying because then the comments no longer make any sense.
I don’t think I can stand this forum with it’s bullying attitudes and hate posts a minute longer, I only come here anyway because I’m bored
loading...
No she’s not a birthzilla. It is pretty obvious that the less interventions used during labour/childbirth the better the outcome for mum an baby EXCEPT where they are necessary. Miranda is not suggesting that people who’ve had emergency caesarians or epidurals are lesser women she’s merely expressing her opinion that she would have preferred not to have any narcotic pain relief or anaesthesia. She prepared as best she could for the birth and was lucky to not need any intervention. I think a lot of women who’ve had a c section or epidurals feel like they’re being judged negatively and tend to jump on stories like this. Why can’t we all just live and let live!!
loading...
Agree…I take my hat off to Miranda. I went in with an open mind and ended up having the works for my birth. Epidural was a godsend…despite a 40 hour labour, I loved giving birth and can’t wait to do it again, probably with an epidural. Each to their own…
loading...
It’s hard to understand how one persons choice to birth without an epidural could offend so much – to the extent that you think it’s ok to launch terms like Birthzilla at them. Who’s being judgemental in this scenario?
loading...
I don`t get why mamamia thinks that Miranda is a birthzilla? So she had a natural birth? Is that bad?
Maybe mamamia needs to tell us exactly how we all should give birth so we all can conform.
loading...
Absolutely. I thought a birthzilla was all about the birth where Miranda is saying it’s all about the baby. Confused.
loading...
I also gave birth without drugs for basically the same reason. I also wanted to remain in control as much as possible and thought drugs would hinder that. Yes, it hurt, but by feeling every inch of pain I could really work with my body, push when I felt and stop too when it was too much.I listened to the midwives, but also told them I will do what my body wants unless there is any drama, thankfully there wasn’t. I gave birth three times to babies all over 5 kilos in weight, not a stitch was needed, they all breast fed within 20 min of being born and I jumped off the table, had a shower and walked to the room to see family. I know there are various attitudes towards the apgar scale, but all my children rated the highest at birth. Drug free was worth it and worked for ME.
loading...
Worked for me too, even being induced for my first child. I felt great afterwards too!
loading...
The only problem I have with Miranda spouting forth her opinions is that she is so poorly informed, and therefore influencing people based on misinformation. So she saw a birth video where the baby looked drugged, and therefore didn’t want an epidural? When many labouring mothers ask for an epidural, midwives often say ‘Why don’t you try pethidine first?’ Pethidine is given systemically (into the muscle, and from there absorbs into the blood stream) and makes the baby sleepy and ‘narcotised’. Many of these women end up needing an epidural anyway. The drugs used in an epidural are injected into the epidural space and consist of mainly local anaesthetic plus a tiny dose of opioid. Babies who are delivered after an epidural when the mother has not had pethidine first are not sleepy or ‘drugged’. I’d bet good money that the mother in the video she saw had had pethidine first and then an epidural. Or the baby may have been drowsy for many other reasons. Whatever the reason was, it was not the epidural. And yes, I’m an anaesthetist and have provided pain relief for thousands of deliveries and have very detailed knowlege of the pharmacology of the drugs I give my patients. Not just watched a video.
loading...
Thank you for providing your professional opinion. whatever her opinion is – she got her medical advice from watching a video – perhaps she should have spoken to an actual doctor.
loading...
Thanks for sharing your informed knowledge.
loading...
Thank you!!!!!!
loading...
So is Mamamia Pro-drugs now? I thought it was all about Pro-choice and empowering people to make educated decisions for themselves.
I am really disappointed to see Miranda labelled as a ‘birthzilla’ which I see as a derogatory term insinuating that she was a control freak about her birth. Why be so down on her?
Good on her I say!
Can’t we all try and be a bit more accepting of each other.
loading...
Good on her
loading...
No I don’t think she is “birthzilla” good on her for making choices that suit her and her lifestyle. why not just let her be instead of judging her?
loading...
This type of post is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
loading...
Why? It is not telling others how to give birth, just one woman explaining her choices. Shouldn’t we all support that?
loading...
This is such old news. A really poor effort from the mamamia team.
Having an opinion on how you want to give birth is sensible not birthzilla.
Again, she had her baby 18 months ago. This story is lazy.
loading...
Birthzilla? Is this blog the ‘mummy’ version of high school now? Let’s all just call eachother names instead of having reasoned debate.
loading...
Well I had a spinal for my emergency c-section after 10 hours drug free because my son was in fetal distress – perhaps I should have opted to keep going and my husband could have buried both of us :/
loading...
:/ That’s fascinating but how does it relate to the article which is about Miranda’s choice not to have pain relief for her own apparently straight forward labor?
loading...
Snore.
loading...
I really cant believe the responses I’ve just read talk about being bitchy. People have to realise Miranda is just like everybody else and has the right the voice her opinion as does everybody else. Personally I didn’t have the choice to have pain relief but if I did I’d still have gone natural.
loading...
So Miranda sounding smug is irritating.
But not as irritating as coining a bitchy term like “birthzilla” and then really trying to run with it.
loading...
I thought this website was all about the ‘sisterhood’ and women supporting each other but articles like this are starting to make me wonder. The motives have clearly changed $$$$$ and hence so has the content……Time to loom away me thinks!
P.S. I was encouraged to note that most responders sound as disappointed as me in the quality of this article. So perhaps the sisterhood is in fact alive and well.
loading...
oh come oooon, mamamia. get over it. when you wrote “birthzilla?” i was surprised you didn’t contine with a “oh-on-you-di’int” and a few queen-snaps. i was kind of, slightly on-board until then.
loading...
I don’t dislike Miranda but I don’t really care how she had her one baby. That’s just the thing though, she has had ONE birth experience, can’t we hear from someone who has had 3,4 or 5+ bubs- those people are the birth experts and whose opinions I would value over a first-time mum, sorry!
Her comment re being Induced is odd though don’t you think., if the dr said my fluid was getting low I would want that baby out presto…
loading...
Ok, I had 4 natural births. I had only gas for all of them. They were bloody painful at the time, but having them with little interference made me feel really happy with myself and I felt like I’d really achieved something. Three of them were great breast feeders, the fourth was a bit more difficult, but learned after a while. I bounced back after the first two as I was under 25 for both.
I suspect Miranda is also proud of herself and right into her health. It is her bread and butter to look after herself.
I’d think that people don’t like her statement probably because of envy???as for BBs friend, she may think she’s funny, but sorry, childbirth is one of the most natural things women can experience. Nature just isn’t often kind to us.
loading...
The contradiction lies in Mia constantly saying that women shouldn’t be entitled to have any control over their birth experience, and if they attempt to, they are labelled a birthzilla, which Mia suggests means putting yourself before the needs of your baby. Yet somebody who wants to have a go drug free, which cannot be anything but beneficial to the baby is also labelled a birthzilla. Stop smashing women for their birth choices. Please. Straight away.
loading...
Mia is not constantly saying that women shouldn’t be entitled to have any control over their birth experience at all.
All most of us are saying is that a bit of “research” from asking friends and joining groups on Facebook doesn’t trump professionals who deliver babies day in day out. As their profession. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who seriously is against people making choices and having plans for what they’d like to happen. That’s great. But you also need to recognise that obstetricians and midwives are not all scalpel happy drug pushing butchers and the vast majority actually have both the birthing mother and the baby’s best interests at the forefront of their minds and work. It is people who suggest otherwise and that they know better that cop the ire and deserve it.
loading...
I believe Miranda is “copping the ire” here, for believing she could labour without drugs. So it seems to me that it’s extending to this now too.
loading...
Agree. I thought from the headline that this article might be an interesting insight into someone’s choices. But no, it’s bashing someone for their choice.
Both her and the baby were born safe and healthy. That’s what matters, the rest is just semantics.
btw – 4 babies, 4 different births, none of anyone’s business!
loading...
and that is why she hasn’t had another one in a hurry…
loading...
I have a friend who has the same comeback on this and it cracks me up. Every time she’s asked if she had a natural childbirth with her child, she says “There aint nuthin natural about childbirth!”
loading...
STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!
I’m a little dissapointed in this article, which is virtually begging for us to “judge” another woman for her choices.
It’s not like Miranda is spuiking freebirthing.
Each to her own. She got what she wanted (as far as we know) and her baby is healthly (as far as we know).
The pitching of different birthing styles/camps against each other does nothing but make us feel defensive or guilty about choices made or thrust upon us.
Enough. E.N.O.U.G.H.
loading...
Haha! Love the comments! For me, being induced with an 8lb7oz baby with a 38cm head, the NATURAL option was to reach for the epidural! And that I did! Best thing I’ve ever done. I’m not an idiot. No medals for being scarred for life by the experience! Again, MY choice. Whatever, my daughter is awesome and healthy and she’ll never know the difference. And me? Well, I survived with only fantastic memories of a wonderful experience!
loading...
I had a c-section with my son for exactly the same reason as Miranda’s choices, I wanted to give him the best possible start in life I could
loading...
I have two beautiful girls…. Thats it! No story about my labors or births, whether I breast fed or not… because none of it matters, I HAVE TWO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS!
Why do we as women always feel the need to justify why we made the decisions we made…. Surely i’m not the only one to have noticed the stories….. ” After a bazillion hour labor, I finally had a to have a C section… blah blah.” Why does it have to be like this??? Cant we just be happy the baby made it here safe and sound and not feel the need to tell the whole freakin universe all the other crap!
loading...
So true!! We are forever justifying out decisions and we shouldnt. I had a baby full stop:)
loading...
Please stop filling Mamamia with these rubbish, inflammatory stories using celebrities. This is written like a New Idea story, twisting what Miranda said to suit a purpose. Why can’t you talk to experts in the field instead of Miranda Kerr?
I would be far more interested in what an experienced obstetrician had to say about possible drug effects on newborns.
Also why not say the author of the story? Hiding behind the ‘Mamamia team’ is a bit weak.
loading...
Oh please. We get it. You got a lot of hits with the birthzilla post last time. So you just gotta milk it again. Lame, mamamia. You really take your readers for idiots, don’t you?
loading...
When did we as a society turn into complete arseholes? Why can’t we as women respect other women’s choices? Miranda chose what was right for her. She’s not a birthzilla! In fact, Mia has started this stupid label to justify her beliefes. The lack or respect and taking other people’s choices as a personal attack on what you have chosen shows just how shallow you people really are. C sec, natural, drugs, no drugs, home birth, free birth – they are individuals choices. Stop passing judgement and start supporting and respecting your fellow sisters!
loading...
Wow, Mamamia, did you really need to put that catty phrase ‘Birthzilla’ at the end? that helps how?
All drugs giving to birthing mothers can and do effect the baby n large or small ways – this isnt a theory, it’s fact. The only debate is howbig a deal this is All she wanted to do was reduce the risk for her baby to give her baby the best possible chance at life. What on earth could be wrong w that? sheesh!! She is not saying everyone must do it, just why she made the choice (i made the same x 2). Funny how one minute women are mocked on this site for taking a ‘risk’ to home birth then mocked the next for choosing to minimise risk even at their own cost. I say – you go girl!
loading...
Is anyone else over hearing about HOW women have their babies, HOW women feed their babies, HOW parents raise their children.
Enough already!
Mums birth children. Does it matter how?
Parents feed children. Do we need to know specifics?
Parents raise children. Is it anybody’s business how we do it?
Ladies, keep the specifics for close friends, families and people who have a vested interest in you and your child’s life.
If anyone else outside of that circle knows what degree tears you had giving birth, how long you did or didn’t breastfeed, whether you co-sleep or not then either you’ve overshared or they are a busy body.
Let’s take birth and parenting off the ‘hot topics’ list and before these ‘mummy wars’ end up out of control.
loading...
Amen to that !!!!
loading...
Thank you for articulating exactly how I feel about this article.
loading...
Geez. Someone asked her opinion and for the reasons behind her decision. So she answered honestly. I dont read any judgement in her responses.
loading...