Here is the science:
In a 2012 study, Hodnett et al. published an updated Cochrane review on the use of continuous support for women during childbirth. They pooled the results of 22 trials that included 15,000 women.
Overall, women who received continuous support were:
- more likely to have spontaneous vaginal births
- less likely to have pain medication
- less likely to have negative feelings about childbirth
- less likely to have vacuum or forceps-assisted births
- less likely to have C-sections
- labors shorter by about 40 minutes
- higher APGAR scores