Breastfeeding on Facebook

Facebook has decided that pictures of women breastfeeding is obscene. This was covered on today's Dr. Phil (thanks Ruth). What are we afraid of? That more women will decide to breastfeed? That children will realize it is a natural thing to do? In Europe women openly breastfeed their children and they aren't always discrete. But no one but Americans think this is unatural.

Early Cesarean Deliveries Increase Risks for Babies

Thousands of women are putting their babies at risk at their doctor’s advice. I think one could also apply this to women who are being induced. Doctors routinely start pushing induction at 38 weeks to my students, saying "The baby is big enough." Size in not the only thing that matters, their lungs need to develop to be healthy. Years ago, I had a student who had her baby at 38 weeks because they were worried if they waited any longer the baby would get too big. The baby weighed 8lb. 8oz. but ended in the NICU where there doctor told the parents, the baby was premature. We put too much stress on planning everything: We need to know what sex the baby is, pick the day the baby is born (or at least try), that we are putting our babies at risk.  


The following article was in the L.A. Times:

Elective C-sections performed before 39 weeks of pregnancy multiply the chance of serious complications, according to an analysis of more than 13,000 births.

By Karen Kaplan 

January 8, 2009

Thousands of women put their babies at needless risk of respiratory problems, hypoglycemia and other medical ailments by scheduling cesarean deliveries too early, according to an analysis of more than 13,000 births published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Elective cesarean sections performed after 37 or 38 weeks of pregnancy had up to four times the risk of serious complications compared with procedures done after 39 weeks. Even deliveries that were just one, two or three days shy of 39 weeks carried a 21% increased risk of complications, the study found. 

Jennifer Block does it again

Jennifer Block has written an eye opener of an article in the L.A. Times, detailing the need to redo our way of having babies.  Every parent should think about the way they choose to give birth to their child and be an active part of it.

We so need to improve our quality of care, here is some food for thought from the article:

But cost hasn't translated into quality. We spend more than double per capita on childbirth than other industrialized countries, yet our rates of pre-term birth, newborn death and maternal death rank us dismally in comparison. Last month, the March of Dimes gave the country a "D" on its prematurity report card; California got a "C," but 18 other states and the District of Columbia, where 15.9% of babies are born too early, failed entirely.