Warning issued over Call the Midwife and One Born Every Minute
HIT TV shows like Call the Midwife and One Born Every Minute should come with health warnings, experts say.
Medical scenes in the much-loved programmes are allegedly "inaccurate" and "outdated" and risk drastically misleading the public.
A team of academics want safety alerts shown before episodes air to remind mums- and dads-to-be that telly doesn't always reflect reality.
Scientists from King's College London and the University of Liverpool analysed 87 births shown in 48 episodes of three UK popular fictional and reality TV programmes: BBC's Call The Midwife, This Is Going To Hurt and Channel 4's One Born Every Minute.
They found the majority of births showed modern updates to labour care, in line with guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
But a third of the time, the depictions of midwives and doctors clamping the umbilical cord were inaccurate or dramatised.
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Prof Andrew Weeks, a maternal health expert from the University of Liverpool, said: "Health professionals know that midwives and doctors should not interrupt the flow of blood to the newborn baby nor separate the mother and baby without a pressing reason, and yet this is what is being shown on popular television programmes as common practice.
"Incorrect depictions like this, however routine, can lead to misinterpretations of correct practice by the public.
"The language used in programming of 'delayed' or 'deferred' clamping can make people think it should be done 'early' or 'immediately' when that is not correct.
"This illustrates the need for safety recommendations when TV dramas show birthing practices and procedures that are outdated and inaccurate."
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Clamping after childbirth is when the baby's umbilical cord is clamped before being tied and cut, separating the baby from the mother.
The procedure is only meant to happen between one and five minutes after birth, as it stops blood circulating between mother and child during the time the baby begins to breathe.
If the cord is clamped too soon, there is a risk of depriving the baby of blood from the placenta, which helps to keep their blood pressure stable.
The paper, published in journal JRSM Open, found that in 21 instances of clamping appeared to happen immediately or too early.
Professor Susan Bewley, an obstetrician and women's health at King's College London, said: "Millions of viewers watch programmes like Call the Midwife every week to be entertained but the line between fact and fiction is blurred.
"We are impressed that UK television shows have accurately depicted some changes in childbirth over the last century, but on the other hand they have also provided the public with a picture of poor-quality care when it comes to clamping during childbirth.
"These inaccurate depictions could influence how people see real-world care.
"We saw cord clamping too early in most televised births, but no programme informed viewers about the safety aspects.
"When showing outdated practices, broadcasters have a public health duty to inform viewers that this immediate medical intervention is no longer recommended.
";No broadcaster would show the sleeping positions associated with cot-death without comment."
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A spokesperson for Call The Midwife said: "Call The Midwife is a drama, not a documentary, and is set half a century ago.
"It is highly accurate to the period it depicts, and shows how childbirth has changed radically over the years."