Kalki Koechlin opens up about water birth: ‘People think its some weird cult, chudail practice’

Kalki Koechlin advocates for water birthing, highlighting its benefits for mothers and babies. She also criticizes the stigma surrounding the practice.

When Kalki Koechlin and her musician boyfriend Guy Hershberg welcomed their baby daughter Sappho, the couple chose to go with a water birth. The actor recently opened about the benefits of the technique and explained why it is not approved as a norm. Kalki opined that some people think it is "weird" cult-like or "chudail practice" which keeps them away from opting for it.

Kalki Koechlin gave birth to her daughter Sappho in 2020.

‘Water birthing should be standard practice’

The Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani actor in a conversation with Aleena Dissects said, "I think this should be standard practice. Water birthing is much easier on the body during natural birth. There’s so much research that it’s easier for the baby when it comes out because it was in the amniotic fluid already so it is not a big shock. And for the woman, in terms of recovery, it’s a smoother process in general. I think it should be the protocol,” she shared.

"I don't know why people don't opt for it. I guess here it is more expensive, so that's a big reason. But there are places where people can do it in a hospital also. People aren't informed enough about it. They just think it is weird cult, a chudail practice," Kalki added.

Kalki's water birthing story

Kalki gave birth to Sappho on February 7 in 2020. The actor described about her birthing journey in a long post on Instagram, thanking the doctors to get her through a 17-hour long labour period. 

In the post Kalki said, "So thankful to the whole team at Tulip Women's Care and to my to doctors @docsheetalsabharwal and @drrvpunjabi who simply refused to give up on me even when after 17 hours I was so tired I begged them to take the baby out anyway they could and they said no, you've come this far and you're going to have your natural waterbirth, and an hour later Sappho was born. You guys are miracle workers!