Some mothers say they feel ill-equipped

WARWICK, England, March 3 (UPI) -- Many women say they feel" ignorant and ill-equipped" to cope with motherhood because they live too far from close family, British researchers said.

Dr. Angela Davis of the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick interviewed more than 90 women to discuss experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and childcare.

"Geographical mobility means that women today more often live further away from family, which means they are less likely to have relatives on hand," Davis said in a statement.

"Also most births take place in hospital so that very few women have been present at childbirth before they have their own child."

The first part of the study focused on motherhood from 1930-70 and Davis said the results were surprising. She found there had always been ignorance surrounding sex education and childbirth but for very different reasons.

"The testimonies of the women interviewed for this research indicate how ignorant and ill-equipped many of them felt surrounding the issues of pregnancy, childbirth and infant care as late as the 1960s and, indeed, this may still apply to women today," Davis said.

Although women now seemed better informed about sex, there was still far too little information given to them about the development of pregnancy, childbirth and infant care, Davis concluded.