The Continuity of Carer (CoC) model has demonstrated benefits for women’s outcomes, experiences and the midwife–woman relationship (Perriman et al 2018, Sandall et al 2024). However, its implementation remains limited by institutional and sociocultural barriers. This article critiques how embodiment and relationality offer an epistemological lens to understand care beyond clinical measures. It draws on continuity and relationship embodiment (CARE) as a framework for understanding women’s experiences of maternity care. Care is conceptualised through continuity and ethical responsiveness; relationships are understood through relationality and trust; and embodiment is centred as a way of knowing and experiencing the world, which is often marginalised in clinical discourse. Together, these lenses position birth as an embodied and relational experience that can be shaped by medicalisation, power dynamics, and societal norms surrounding clinical interventions and authority. Within this framework, CoC emerges not only as a service model but as a transformative practice that foregrounds women’s lived experiences and embodied knowledge. The first part of this article explores these concepts through the CARE theory, while the second examines the sociocultural barriers to CoC implementation — a critical step toward advancing more equitable and woman-centred maternity care.