A study of Australian midwives has found a large majority believe water births should be offered to all pregnant women.

Key points: Study finds 95 per cent of midwives suggest water births to expectant mothers

Study finds 95 per cent of midwives suggest water births to expectant mothers A third of mothers were interested in the option

A third of mothers were interested in the option Doctors say water births are more risky than traditional births

University of South Australia midwifery lecturer Dr Megan Cooper's survey of 234 midwives found almost 95 per cent of them had suggested the method to expectant mothers as an alternative to traditional hospital births.

But many doctors and mothers were not embracing the option to give birth in a bath or pool, with a third of women reportedly interested.

Water birth facilities are available at Adelaide's three main maternity hospitals — the Women's and Children's Hospital, the Flinders Medical Centre and the Lyell McEwin Hospital — but in 2015 only 1.7 per cent of babies were born this way, including in private hospitals and at home.

Dr Cooper said she hoped the study would encourage risk-averse doctors to take a closer look at the option.

"This might be the start of something, so if we can get doctors working with us, and us working with doctors to actually provide alternative options to women, I think that can only be a great thing," she said.

She said an absence of guidelines and practitioners in Australia were two of the reasons water births were not more common.

Only 1.7 per cent of SA babies were water births in 2015. ( ABC: Mark Rigby )

"It's not offered on a mainstream basis, so women are actually opting to go out into the homebirth sector or to privately practising midwives to actually access the option, because they can't find it in a hospital, in the hospital system," she said.

Mother-of-two Melissa Dudek who is based in Gawler, north of Adelaide, said she had experienced both a traditional and water birth.

She said the latter was "much better".

"I had a traditional birth with my first baby Ava," Ms Dudek said.

"After one failed epidural and then a successful one, I was stuck on the bed and forced to give birth laying on my back. I also had a severe tear that needed stitches. It wasn't a great experience by any means.

"For my second baby, Archie, I opted for a water birth. It was far more positive, relaxing, less painful and my labour progressed a lot quicker in the water.

"There was no need for any medical intervention or pain relief and I was able to move around and find a more comfortable position."

Doctors have good reasons for refusing water births

University of Queensland Associate Professor Ted Weaver — a former president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists — said obstetricians often had concerns with water births, as did mothers in labour.

He said some of the concerns would relate to problems that arose while in the bath or dangers for the baby.

"If they collapsed or something like that then it is sometimes difficult to retrieve people from the bath," he said.

"It's difficult to estimate blood loss in the bath, so if a woman delivers in water and bleeds, it can be difficult to estimate that.

"Obviously there are concerns for the baby of water inhalation, potential drowning.

SA Health's water birth policy states that water births can be supported if a long list of criteria are met. ( ABC News: Gregor Salmon )

"I think the main reason that women would say no would be because they have fears about potential problems for either themselves or their baby as part of it."

Professor Weaver said there was a long list of contraindications for water births "for a reason" but agreed that more research needed to be done on its benefits.

"I think the list of contraindications are there for a reason, one is because there are some conditions in pregnancy that really should preclude women from a water birth," he said.

"One would be if the mother had what we call an antepartum haemorrhage where the mother was bleeding when she was in labour.

"[Also] if she was very large, certainly in my institution we've got a cut off of about 100 [kilograms] because of being able to move the mother in an emergency situation.

"There probably should be [more training] because again, it's about provision of choice for women when they're in labour."

SA Health's water birth policy states that water births can be supported if a long list of criteria are met, including that the pregnancy is low risk, there is only one baby and it is not premature, and the mother is not obese and does not have certain medical conditions like diabetes.

It's policy stated that water births has benefits such as "pain management and overall satisfaction with the birthing experience" but concerns included "water aspiration, increased infection and overall mortality".