A longitudinal study of women’s memory of labour pain—from 2 months to 5 years after the birth

Abstract

There was significant individual variation in recollection of labour pain. In the small group of women who are dissatisfied with childbirth overall, memory of pain seems to play an important role many years after the event. These findings challenge the view that labour pain has little influence on subsequent satisfaction with childbirth. In-labour pain and long-term memory of pain are discussed as two separate outcomes involving different memory systems.