Women could be scared off having babies by seeing the intimate experience of childbirth served up as a television spectacle, a leading childbirth charity warned yesterday, as Channel Five screened the first live birth on British television.

Caleb was born by caesarean section to his mother, Nadine, in Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, during the two hour special. The 6lb boy was pulled out of his mother's womb at 9.36pm. It was hoped a natural birth would be shown live for the first time on British television, but the producers of Birth Night Live said the timing just was not right.

Just minutes before going on air at 8pm, baby Esme Grace was born to mother, Debs, who happened to be a midwife in the hospital.

The programme, made by Endemol, the maker of Big Brother, was the latest in a wave of medical reality TV shows which have pushed back the boundaries of primetime viewing. A group of expectant mothers at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre had agreed to be shown in labour.

Speaking before the programme, Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said the decision to film live rather than use pre-recorded footage placed an unfair strain on expectant women.

"If something goes wrong, we don't expect to be in a position where we're watching the death of a baby. You can have just as much value from seeing a birth that's been recorded half an hour previously."

By filming childbirth as it happens, such programmes could come across like the educational videos that terrify teenage girls in school sex education classes, she said.

"When it's recorded you can cut it. Labours are long - 12 hours - but when it's live you can only show the hot and heavy bit at the end."

The Royal College of Midwives also criticised the film, saying it risked turning birth into a "spectator sport" that would raise the stress levels of the women involved.

Five said the programme was intended to be a "celebration" of childbirth, capturing the anxieties, drama and ultimate joy of the experience.

Alex Sutherland, Five's controller of live factual events, said: "There's an excitement to seeing things happen live. We get criticised for editing things and making them too smooth.

"This is a perfect opportunity to demystify the process, to do it in a way that celebrates the birth rather than a lot of blood and guts."