MIDWIVES say the birthing pool is making a comeback in the North-East.

Giving birth in water became fashionable in the early 1990s, but seemed to have fallen out of favour until recently.

A birthing pool is being installed at a North-East hospital, while other centres are being refurbished and expanded.

The pool will be part of a new million pound maternity unit at South Tyneside Health Care NHS Trust, in South Shields.

The facility will offer expectant mothers in South Tyneside the chance to experience the pain-relieving benefits of using a pool during labour.

Unusually, the room containing the freestanding pool also contains a delivery bed so women can have the labour in the pool and deliver on the bed if they want.

Bronwen Boddy, project leader for the unit, said a shortage of trained midwives, combined with a fall in demand for water births, had restricted their use in the region.

She said, however, that the signs were that more women were asking for a birthing pool during labour and for delivery.

She said: "The enthusiasm for birthing pools is coming back now as more women are demanding this type of facility."

Recently midwives from the South Shields unit supervised the first home water birth on South Tyneside.

The midwives have undergone training at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, which has a long-established and well-used birthing pool.

Mrs Boddy said: "There is now more research which supports the use of birthing pools in labour and delivery.

"The water helps with pain relief and reduces the use of drugs."

The unit will open this month, but the birthing pool service will be in restricted use until September, when all members of staff will be fully trained.