Society guideline links: Childbirth

Introduction — 

This topic includes links to society and government-sponsored guidelines from selected countries and regions around the world. We will update these links periodically; newer versions of some guidelines may be available on each society's website. Some societies may require users to log in to access their guidelines.

The recommendations in the following guidelines may vary from those that appear in UpToDate topic reviews. Readers who are looking for UpToDate topic reviews should use the UpToDate search box to find the relevant content.

Links to related guidelines are provided separately. (See "Society guideline links: Labor" and "Society guideline links: Shoulder dystocia and macrosomia".)

International

●International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO): Prep-for-Labor – Overview of labor and delivery triage bundles of care to optimize maternal and newborn outcomes (2023)

●FIGO, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG): Statement on childbirth – A bill of rights (2021)

●World Health Organization (WHO): Recommendation on routine antibiotic prophylaxis for women undergoing operative vaginal birth (2021)

●FIGO: Ethics and professionalism guideline on decision making about vaginal and caesarean delivery (2020)

●WHO: Recommendation on umbilical vein injection of oxytocin for the treatment of retained placenta (2020)

●WHO: Recommendations on intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience (2018)

Canada

●Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC): Clinical practice guideline on obstetrical anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) part I – Prevention, recognition, and immediate management (2024)

●SOGC-Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS): Joint clinical practice guideline for umbilical cord management in preterm and term infants (2022)

●Choosing Wisely Canada: Don't do routine episiotomy in spontaneous or instrumented vaginal births (updated 2021)

●SOGC: Clinical practice guideline on labour, delivery, and postpartum care for people with physical disabilities (2021)

●SOGC: Clinical practice guideline on assisted vaginal birth (2019)

●SOGC: Clinical practice guideline on pregnancy and maternal obesity part 2 – Team planning for delivery and postpartum care (2019)

●SOGC: Clinical practice guideline on trial of labour after caesarean (2019)

●SOGC: Clinical practice guideline on the physiologic basis of pain in labour and delivery – An evidence-based approach to its management (2018)

United States

●American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG): Committee opinion on delivery of a newborn with meconium-stained amniotic fluid (2017, reaffirmed 2024)

●ACOG: Committee opinion on labor and delivery management of women with human immunodeficiency virus infection (2018, reaffirmed 2024)

●ACOG: Practice advisory on counseling regarding approach to delivery after cesarean and the use of a vaginal birth after cesarean calculator (2021, reaffirmed 2024)

●ACOG: Committee opinion on delayed umbilical cord clamping after birth (2020, reaffirmed 2023)

●ACOG: Committee opinion on umbilical cord blood banking (2019, reaffirmed 2023)

●Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN): Evidence-based clinical practice guideline on labor support for intended vaginal birth (2022)

●ACOG: Committee opinion on approaches to limit intervention during labor and birth (2019, reaffirmed 2021)

●ACOG: Committee opinion on immersion in water during labor and delivery (2016, reaffirmed 2021)

●American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM): Position statement on optimal management of the umbilical cord at the time of birth (2014, updated 2021)

●International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and ACOG: Statement on childbirth – A bill of rights (2021)

●ACOG: Practice bulletin on operative vaginal birth (2020)

●AWHONN: Practice brief on lower extremity nerve injury in childbirth (2020)

●Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM): Special statement on operative vaginal delivery – Checklists for performance and documentation (2020)

●American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP): Clinical practice guideline on vaginal birth after cesarean (2014, reaffirmed 2019)

●ACOG: Practice bulletin on vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (2019)

●ACOG: Practice bulletin for the prevention and management of obstetric lacerations at vaginal delivery (2018)

●ACOG: Practice bulletin for the use of prophylactic antibiotics in labor and delivery (2018)

Europe

●European Association of Perinatal Medicine (EAPM): European guidelines on perinatal care – Peripartum care: Episiotomy (2022)

United Kingdom

●National Institute for Health and Care Excellence: Guideline on intrapartum care (2023, updated 2025)

●International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG): Statement on childbirth – A bill of rights (2021)

●NICE: Medical technologies guidance on Episcissors-60 for mediolateral episiotomy (2020)

●NICE: Quality standard on intrapartum care – Existing medical conditions and obstetric complications (2020)

●RCOG: Green-top guideline on assisted vaginal birth, 4th edition (2020)

●NICE: Guideline on intrapartum care for women with existing medical conditions or obstetric complications and their babies (2019)

●NICE: Quality standard on intrapartum care (2015, updated 2017)

●RCOG: Green-top guideline for the management of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears, 3rd edition (2015)

●RCOG: Green-top guideline on birth after previous caesarean birth, 2nd edition (2015)

Australia–New Zealand

●Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG): Clinical guideline for care in labour in the absence of pregnancy complications, interim update (2024)

●RANZCOG: Statement on instrumental vaginal birth (2020)

●RANZCOG: Best practice statement on birth after previous caesarean section (2019)

Japan

●[In Japanese] Japan Academy of Midwifery (JAM): Evidence-based midwifery guidelines – Pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (2024)

●[In Japanese] Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) and Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (JAOG): Obstetrics and gynecology clinical practice guidelines – Obstetrics edition (2023)

●[In Japanese] Nationwide survey on mothers' desire for safe and satisfying pregnancy and childbirth – Revision of scientifically based guidelines for comfortable and safe pregnancy and childbirth (2013)