Best Birth Documentaries

As a maker of a birth documentary myself, I have watched almost all of the birth documentaries out there. Turns out, there are not that many! The ones that you’ll find tend to focus on the more natural aspects of birth (midwives, out of hospital births, evidence based birth practices, etc). I think this is because we see enough of the medical model of birth through shows like TLC’s A Baby Story and in almost every birth depicted in television and movies.

So, without further ado, I present a fairly exhaustive list of birth documentaries. I put them in the order of my own personal favorites, so this list, of course, is subjective. (Click on the images to take you to the movie.)

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1. The Business of Being Born (2008)
This is the most popular documentary about birth ever made, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you should. It has done more to educate people about birth and birthing practices and, well, the business of being born, than any other movie. It is factual and informative and educational and incredibly well done. Plus, you get to see Ricki Lake give birth! What more could you want?


2. Birth As We Know It (2006)
Not a lot of people have heard of this film, but it is one of my personal favorites. It’s kind of out there and kind of trippy, so this is probably not the first film you want to show to your husband if he’s on the fence about pursuing a natural birth. This film features so many amazing, natural, out of hospital births. It shows twin births, breech births, and women birthing amongst dolphins in the Black Sea. (I told you it was trippy.) One of the most beautiful, well-done birth films out there.

3. Why Not Home (2016)
Filmmaker and nurse practitioner, Jessica Moore, shows maternity care in the US through the lens of doctors and nurses who attend birth in the hospital, but choose to have their own children at home. This movie was really done and featured a lot of nice births and a balanced perspective.


4. Midwife (2013)
This is the movie that I made. It’s nowhere near as good as the top three movies, but it's a movie that’s important in its own right. It explores the life of a new home birth midwife, while also examining what the birth environment looks like in states where home birth midwifery is not legal, and families are faced with fewer birth options. It encourages viewers to explore their options and with whom they choose to attend their births. The film shows four homebirths, and the capabilities of homebirth midwives in handling even difficult births.

5. Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives (2012)
Oh, Ina May! How can you not love this pioneer midwife who taught herself midwifery from the ground up. This is a look inside the midwifery care she started at her hippie commune called The Farm. Again, probably not a film you would want to start a doubting partner out with. But, for everyone else, it’s a good one.


6. The Face of Birth (2012)
Oy, and here I thought our birth choices here in America were rough. This film covers what they’re up against in Australia, a country that is also in much need of maternity reform. This is a wonderfully done film, with interviews from Sheila Kitzinger, Michel Odent, Ina May, balanced out with perspective from the President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology and the President of the National Association of Specialist ObstetricIans and Gynaecologists. Some pretty heavy hitters there! The only downside: no births are shown. Just a bunch of (very well done and put together) interviews.


7. What Babies Want (2004)
Okay, so this one is not necessarily a documentary about birth as it is about babies, but I felt it was important to include because it is very well done. Plus, it is kind of about birth, because it talks about how birth affects babies and how life patterns are formed at birth and before. Double plus, Noah Wyle narrates and there is this amazing scene where he talks about smelling his baby’s head for the first time.


8. Orgasmic Birth (2008)
I heard the maker of this film, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, talk about the title of this film at the screening I went to several years ago. She said they intentionally chose this title to garner the most attention. Well played, Debra Pascali-Bonaro. Well played. It’s a good film that shows the emotional and spiritual aspects of birthing naturally. The one actual “orgasmic” birth that is shown was opted from the film Birth As We Know It.


9. Microbirth (2014)
An insightful look into the importance of the microbiome. During birth, you can get the benefits of the microbiome by doing the following: vaginal birth, skin to skin contact, breastfeeding. This movie will tell you all about the benefits of the microbiome and exactly why it’s so important.


10. Heads Up: The Disappearing Art of Vaginal Breech Delivery (2015)
The film gives voice to the lost art of the vaginal breech delivery. It features women (including James Van Der Beek's wife!) who would like vaginal breech birth to be an option. It talks about the study, which was later found to be faulty, that caused the elimination of vaginal breech births in the first place. Aye yai yai, this is a good one, folks.


11. The Mama Sherpas (2015)
This movie is to hospital-based nurse midwives what my movie (Midwife, #4) is to home birth midwives. It shows the benefits of the collaborative care model, where nurse midwives and doctors work together to produce better birth outcomes. It features lots of births, including a cesarean and a breech birth.


12. Beautiful Births (2014)
This film was part narrative stories, hearing firsthand from mothers, about both the negative and positive birth experiences that they have experienced, and part informative documentary, telling about things such as VBAC, ICAN, interventions, midwives, diet during pregnancy, etc..


13. Trial of Labor (2015)
This one is a smaller film that follows four women who have had a previous cesarean trying to have a vaginal birth the next time around. We hear a lot of stories, but don’t see a lot of actual births in this film. If you've been around birth long enough, you can kind of predict how the births are going to turn out, and who is going to get their successful VBAC or not.


14. Pregnant in America (2008)
The filmmaker and his wife navigate their way through p as they expect their first baby. They learn about hospitals, insurance companies, midwives, and homebirth. They are disappointed in the traditional maternity care system in America. This documentary has a bit of a Michael Moore feel to it, and might come off as sensationalist.



There you go. A fairly definitive list of basically all the birth documentaries out there. (Did I miss any?) My first child was born in 2003, and none of these movies were even made yet, so just look at all you have to choose from! Seriously, we have all these documentaries to help us learn about birth and our choices… watch some of them!