Far from being in agony during childbirth, it has been claimed labour can actually give women an orgasm. New evidence backs up theories that women can enjoy birth to the point of ecstasy according to a survey in the journal Sexologies. Midwives told French psychologist Thierry Postel that orgasms are experienced by about 0.3 per cent of births. As unlikely as they may sound, orgasmic births are no surprise anatomically-speaking given the proximity of the baby's position to sexual organs. Barry Komisaruk, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University in New Jersey, explained to LiveScience: 'It's stimulation of the birth canal, stimulation of the cervix, the vagina and the clitoris and uterine contractions. 'A lot of women say during sexual orgasms uterine contractions feel pleasurable.' 'When the baby's coming down the birth canal, remember, it's going through the exact same positions as something going in - the penis going into the vagina, which often leads to orgasm,' agreed author Dr Christiane Northrup. As well as stimulating the erogenous zones, the experience produces many of the same chemical reactions in the body as arousal does. Endorphins, and oxytocin, the 'love hormone', that are produced during orgasms, also flood women's brains during birth. Women can orgasm multiple times during birth, lasting an average of 10-15 seconds each time. Dr Komisaruk and his colleagues found that sexual stimulation and orgasm reduce sensitivity to pain, meaning that enjoying birth sexually could make the experience far less of an ordeal. One of Britain's most famous midwives Caroline Flint writes in her new book, Do Birth, argues that women should openly embrace this side of labour and be sexually stimulated by their partner to get the oxytocin hormone flowing. Maker of documentary 'Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret' Debra Pascali-Bonaro agrees that clitoral and nipple stimulation provide pain relief for some women. Some even use vibrators during to decrease pain. 'It's a culture where some women actually feel shamed that they have pleasure, because the expectation is pain. We have to change that,' she says.