Labour Delivery Model

Quick Answer: The labour delivery model is a teaching model of childbirth showing a baby passing through the birth canal, typically the bony pelvis together with the soft tissues of the pelvic floor and perineum. Midwifery and nursing students use a labour delivery model to understand crowning, the birth of the head and shoulders and how the perineum is protected.

The Soft Birth Canal and the Moment of Birth

The bony pelvis sets the shape of the birth passage, but the last part of the journey is through soft tissue. As the head descends, the pelvic floor muscles guide it forwards, the perineum thins and stretches, and the head appears at the vulva, first only during contractions and then staying visible between them, the point called crowning. A model that shows these tissues around the baby helps explain why this stage needs a controlled pace.

The skills taught with such a model centre on a controlled birth of the head. Midwives encourage gentle pushing or breathing as the head crowns, keep the head flexed with light pressure so its smallest diameter passes the perineum, and check for cord around the neck once the head is born. The shoulders then rotate, and gentle guidance downwards and then upwards delivers the front and then the back shoulder. Rehearsing the hand positions on a model comes before assisting on a labour ward.

Perineal trauma is taught alongside, graded from first-degree tears of skin only to fourth-degree tears reaching the anal lining, with episiotomy as a planned cut in selected cases. Whether this model is a static demonstration or lets students deliver the fetus by hand, and its materials and parts, are not stated in the title; the human parturition series shows the stages of labour in sequence.

Applications

• Midwifery training in conducting a normal birth
• Teaching perineal protection and the classification of perineal tears
• Nursing and medical student preparation for labour ward placements
• Birth attendant training for settings where births may happen outside hospital

Specifications

Care & Handling

• If the fetus can be moved through the labour delivery model, use only the lubricant the maker advises and never force it through the canal.
• Clean soft perineal parts with mild soap and water and dry them before storage, since trapped moisture damages soft materials.
• Store the fetus outside the birth canal so the soft tissues are not left stretched.

Why Choose LabEquip

Midwifery schools, nursing colleges and birth attendant programmes buy delivery models so students can rehearse the birth before they attend one. It is part of LabEquip’s biology lab products; check the model type through the contact page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is crowning?

Crowning is when the widest part of the baby’s head is at the vaginal opening and stays visible between contractions instead of slipping back. At this point the midwife supports a slow, controlled birth of the head to reduce perineal tearing.

Why is the head kept flexed during birth?

When the chin is tucked, the smallest diameter of the head leads through the birth canal. Keeping the head flexed as it crowns lets it pass the perineum with less stretching.

How are the shoulders delivered?

After the head is born, it turns to one side as the shoulders rotate inside the pelvis. With the next contraction, gentle guidance downwards frees the front shoulder under the pubic bone, then guidance upwards frees the back shoulder, and the body follows.

How are perineal tears graded?

First-degree tears involve skin only, second-degree tears extend into the perineal muscles, third-degree tears involve the anal sphincter and fourth-degree tears extend into the lining of the anus or rectum. Third- and fourth-degree tears need repair by an experienced clinician.

What is an episiotomy?

It is a cut made in the perineum to enlarge the vaginal opening during birth, used selectively, for example to speed delivery when the baby is distressed or during an instrumental birth. It is no longer done routinely.

What should be checked after the head is born?

Whether the umbilical cord is around the baby’s neck. A loose loop can usually be slipped over the head or left to pass as the body is born, and the midwife then waits for the next contraction to deliver the shoulders.

Last Updated: September 2026