Risk to Baby Rises With Repeat C-Sections
Procedure doubles odds for intensive care compared to vaginal birth newborns, researchers say.
THURSDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Babies delivered by elective, repeat cesarean section delivery are nearly twice as likely to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) than those born vaginally after the mother has previously had a c-section, a new study finds.
These c-section babies are also more likely to have breathing problems requiring supplemental oxygen, the researchers say.
"In addition, the cost of the birth for both mother and infant was more expensive in the elective repeat c-section group compared to the vaginal birth after c-section (VBAC) group," noted Dr. Beena Kamath, the study's lead author and a clinical instructor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.
The study appears in the June issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Nationwide, the c-section delivery rate keeps rising. According to the study authors, by 2006, 31.1 percent of deliveries in the United States were done this way.
Furthermore, women who have delivered once by c-section have a greater than 90 percent chance of undergoing another, the authors noted.
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I live in Australia which has one of the highest c-section rates in the world. It is reported that the Obstetricians are pushing mums to go this way so it's more convenient for them. Who wants to be woken at 2am?! Then there are the mums who are just 'too posh too push'. :)
I had my children the old fashioned way and a c-section was never an option by me or my Obstetrician. If you want to avoid a c-section choose an Obstetrician who knows what you want.
There's another side to this issue, and that is some of us simply cannot deliver naturally, for whatever physical reason, without endangering the fetus or mother, or both.
If you do have a choice, by all means exercise it.
Wow, you've bought into the idea that your body doesn't work hook, line and sinker. 95% or more of women can deliver their babies vaginally, safely. As Ina May Gaskin says, If our bodies didn't work so well there wouldn't be so many of us on the planet.
It is about being informed and the ultimate goal is to have a healthy baby. There is so much pressure and judgment by women in general and especially by moms. We should be supporting each other not being so critical. There will always be extremes in every situation.
Good points all around!
I had no choice with my first but to have a section - heaven knows I had 30 hours hard labor first so can't say I didn't give it my best shot!
I agree that vaginal birth is best if possible, but sometimes it just isn't. My second and third sections were by choice. And all babies were full term and pretty huge! It wasn't a case of 'too posh to push' (although I'm sure there are some women out there where this is true!) but it was what worked for me and my family. C-sections were dreadfully hard for me to recover from - nothing posh about it at all!
My third baby did spend her first night in the NICU, she had 'wet lung' - something that the doctors said happens due to c-sections so I do see some merit in the study. I still think I made the right decisions, though.
My only issue with the debate that this sometimes brings is the notion that moms who deliver vaginally somehow have a better bonding experience or start off on a better emotional footing with their baby than c-section moms which is a notion that has absolutely no merit.