EBB 380b - Combating Birth Trauma in Mexico with Sofía Herrera, Psychologist and EBB Instructor

Evidence Based Birth®

Rebecca Dekker

Pregnancy, Health & Fitness, Childbirth, Parenting, Birth, Medicine, Kids & Family, Doula, Obstetrician, Midwife

4.6 • 978 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After what should have been a joyful birth, Sofía Herrera (childbirth educator, EBB Instructor, Hypnobirthing instructor, and social & clinical psychologist) spent nearly 20 years believing she had postpartum depression, until her investigation revealed the truth: she had experienced birth trauma. That realization became the catalyst for her work supporting birthing families and confronting the widespread obstetric violence and misinformation embedded in Mexico's maternity care system.

Sofía shares what trauma really means, how unconsented interventions and paternalistic care shape birthing experiences, and why so many families mistakenly believe they "failed" when in reality, the system failed them. She also describes the challenges of childbirth in Mexico—from extremely high Cesarean rates to routine episiotomies—and how evidence-based education empowers families to find safer, more respectful care.

(02:26) Sofía's 20-year journey living with untreated trauma

(06:45) Patterns she saw as a childbirth educator

(10:20) Why psychosocial trauma in birth is under-researched and misunderstood

(12:18) Sofía's own birth experience

(18:23) Mexico's extremely high Cesarean rates

(19:48) How paternalism shows up culturally and inside clinical relationships

(21:08) Routine episiotomies and outdated "protocols" still being taught

(22:24) Can childbirth education prevent trauma? How informed families change the system

(28:35) Differences between private vs. public hospitals in Mexico

(32:38) How Sofía uses EBB resources to support and empower families

(35:19) Sofía's top advice for families fearing obstetric violence or disrespectful care

Resources

Connect with Sofía: @sukhamoms

Get EBB Handouts in Spanish: evidencebasedbirth.com/translations/

For more information about Evidence Based Birth® and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram and YouTube! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. On today's podcast, we're going to talk with Paola Sophia Herrera Kiroz about
0:05.3	birth trauma and preparing families with evidence-based information in Mexico.
0:13.7	Welcome to the evidence-based birth podcast. My name is Rebecca Decker, and I'm a nurse with my
0:18.9	PhD and the founder of evidence-based birth.
0:22.2	Join me each week as we work together to get evidence-based information into the hands of
0:27.2	families and professionals around the world. As a reminder, this information is not medical advice.
0:33.8	See eBbirth.com slash disclaimer for more details.
0:37.5	Hi, everyone and welcome to today's see eBbirth.com slash disclaimer for more details.
0:43.8	Hi, everyone, and welcome to today's episode of the evidence-based birth podcast.
0:49.6	Today, I am so excited to welcome Sophia to our podcast today to talk with us about earth trauma and teaching evidence-based information in Mexico.
0:53.9	Paola Sophia Herrera Kiros is a childbirth educator, hypno-birthing instructor, and social and clinical
1:00.1	psychologist.
1:01.7	After what she describes as a beautiful vaginal birth, things took a turn for worse for Sophia.
1:07.8	Sophia was told she had postpartum depression and she believed it, blaming herself and her
1:12.7	supposed inabilities to be a mother. Years later, while studying to become a childbirth educator,
1:18.2	she began her healing process by acknowledging those struggles. When she sought help, she discovered
1:23.3	that what she had actually experienced was birth trauma, not postpartum depression.
1:28.2	And this realization marked the beginning of Sophia's journey as a social psychologist,
1:33.1	motivated to understand what was happening, and to address the injustices that birthing people
1:37.8	in her country face daily, struggles that contribute to so many cases of birth trauma.
1:43.4	Sophia learned a whole lot about
1:45.2	birth trauma, including how common it is, how it can be misdiagnosed as postpartum depression,
	...

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