The New Zealand College of Midwives says being transferred to a new city to give birth can be hard on mums, but it's not quite the crisis some would imagine.

Demand outstripped capacity at Christchurch Women's Hospital's neonatal unit several times last year.

But midwifery advisor Norma Campbell says it's not putting infants at risk.

"On occasions there are more premature babies or sick babies than they have capacity for, so the important thing is for that mother and baby to be where the baby needs the care."

While the thought of giving birth in a different city's worrying for some, one Christchurch mother has nothing but praise for the procedure.

Kineta Booker had to be flown to Dunedin to give birth to her first baby in August last year, because of a shortage of cots in Christchurch Women's Hospital's NICU unit.

She says though it was initially a stressful situation, they were incredibly happy with the care they received.

"A flickering moment of uncertainty I suppose, but the level of care from the CDHB with their social workers and the hospital wanting to get us back to Christchurch was actually amazing.

"We felt really cared for. Although we were in a city that we didn't know and we didn't know anyone, the CDHB looked after us and kept in touch with us the whole time."