Australian Newborn Dies After Mother Uses Home-Birthing Pool Hired From Instagram Influencer
A newborn in Australia died after her mother gave birth at home in a rented birthing pool supplied by Instagram influencer Emily Lal. According to The New York Post, the mother, identified as Ms. E, rented the pool from Emily Lal, known online as 'The Authentic Birthkeeper",—who describes herself as 'disillusioned with the medical system." The incident occurred in December 2022.
After giving birth, Ms. E messaged Lal saying, 'I did it", and planned to have a postpartum visit. However, she was unable to deliver the placenta until the following morning, at which point she realised something was wrong with her baby.
Ms. E sent Lal a message at 8 am saying, 'We can't wake her, we aren't sure if she's breathing," along with a photo of the baby's blue face. However, Lal didn't see the message for 25 minutes.
After reading the message, Lal called the parents via FaceTime and, suspecting the baby had died, told them to call an ambulance. Paramedics performed CPR for 30 minutes but were unable to revive the infant. Forensic pathologist Yeliena Baber stated that delivering in a hospital would have allowed preventive measures to be taken.
'If Baby E were born in a hospital and Ms. E had received appropriate antenatal care, it is highly unlikely that Baby E would have died, as she was a healthy baby and her death was caused by the prolonged delivery in a home birthing pool," Dr. Baber said.
She added that if a trained midwife had been present during the prolonged labour, they likely would have transferred the mother to a hospital at the first signs of the baby being in distress.
The coroner determined that the baby's death likely could have been prevented if the delivery had taken place in a hospital or had been a planned home birth with qualified midwife support.
'A homebirth is distinguished from a 'freebirth', which is when someone chooses to give birth to their baby without medical or midwifery assistance. The publicly available information regarding water birth … is not directed at women intending to birth at home with no medical assistance or antenatal medical management," she said.
'The single consultation with (Ms. E's GP) late in the pregnancy provided no real opportunity for education to be given regarding birth options," she added.
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August 11, 2025, 16:00 IST
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