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Intending Fathers Volunteer To Experience Labour Pains In Shandong, China

A hospital in China’s eastern Shandong Province is giving would-be fathers a chance to get some idea of how it feels to experience one of … Continue reading Intending Fathers Volunteer To Experience Labour Pains In Shandong, China


men in child birthA hospital in China’s eastern Shandong Province is giving would-be fathers a chance to get some idea of how it feels to experience one of the tougher aspects of becoming a parent – giving birth.

After frequent complaints from female patients that they weren’t getting enough sympathy from their partners during pregnancy, the Aima hospital in the provincial capital, Jinan, decided to offer sessions where men could actually experience the pain of giving birth.

Pads attached to a device are placed above the abdomen causing electric shocks that the hospital says create a feeling similar to that of giving birth.
Once the electric current begins to flow, the fathers-to-be writhe in agony as the nurse gradually steps up the intensity of the pain on a scale of one to ten.

One of the fathers said, “Basically it felt really painful, giving birth to a child is actually really not that easy, it felt like my heart and lungs were being ripped apart, it was  really painful, you can’t even describe how painful it was,” said Song Siling who was brought to the session by his wife, and made it to level seven.

While the men may have felt what they were experiencing to be agony, the simulation is only a shadow of the real thing.

“The machine uses electric currents to stimulate the skin in a way that simulates the pain of labour, it doesn’t have any dangerous after-effects. Even though this pain is still far less than the pain experienced by women when they are giving birth, but still, if men can experience this pain then they’ll be more loving and caring to their wives.”

Compared to Europe and North America, Chinese men are relatively absent from the process of giving birth. Some state-run hospitals still don’t allow men to witness their partner giving birth.