This chapter presents the latest research on how physical aspects of childbirth, such as birth mode or place of birth, can affect mother and baby, influencing infant behaviour and developing temperament. It also explores how the impacts of medical interventions on maternal and neonatal outcomes may vary depending on whether they were needed or requested and whether, if needed, they happened “too late” (as occurs frequently in low-resource settings) or “too soon”, which is more likely to occur in high-resource countries and may negatively impact the course of childbirth and the mother and baby’s health and wellbeing (World Health Organization, World Health Organization recommendations: intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience, 2018). The chapter discusses the way that substances such as synthetic oxytocin and pharmacological pain relief often used during childbirth have multiple pros and cons, sometimes making it difficult for parents to navigate the maternity care system to make the choices that are right for them and their baby’s long-term physical and mental health and wellbeing. Personalised, continuous, kind and humane care provided by health professionals during childbirth, along with the physiological and psychological safety this brings to mother and baby, is of paramount importance for achieving positive physical outcomes. However, mothers and babies also need to be nurtured after childbirth. If they could be given the time and training they need to provide this type of care, midwives and nurses are ideally positioned to facilitate skin-to-skin care, breastfeeding and bonding between mother and baby.