The benefits or disadvantages of natural childbirth over induced does not really come within Foodsmatter’s remit but I was so shocked by these two studies, highlit by Natural News, that I wanted to give them a wider airing.
My first shock was the discovery that around 25% of all labours are induced in the US – what happened to allowing the baby to emerge when it was ready? – and, of course, induction involves drugs.
In 2011 the Journal of Attention Disorder published a study from Northcentral University in Arizona showing that there was a ‘strong predictive relationship between perinatal Pitocin (a dug commonly used for induction) and subsequent childhood ADHD onset’.
And now JAMA has published another study from Duke University Medical Centre in North Carolina that suggests that:
‘Compared with children born to mothers who received neither labor induction nor augmentation (increasing strength of of contractions with drugs), children born to mothers who were induced and augmented, induced only, or augmented only experienced increased odds of autism after controlling for potential confounders related to socioeconomic status, maternal health, pregnancy-related events and conditions, and birth year. The observed associations between labor induction/augmentation were particularly pronounced in male children.’
Given that, according to this study, the incidence of autistic spectrum disorders has now risen to 1 in 88 in the US, surely this should be a wake-up call both to parents and to physicians. ‘Inducing’ a child to be born to suit its mother’s or its physician’s diary is only acceptable if there is no risk to the child – but this does not appear to be the case.
Very scary reading indeed. As a first time mother I was advised to be induced at 14 days over my accurate due date (we had been planning). I had no reason to believe this would create any problems and I naively accepted and was booked in. There was little information given about the pros and cons and being very new to motherhood (and extremely large) I didn’t do any research myself. To cut a long story short, my induction used a new drug and a new procedure. After being left alone, with another mum in the same situation, and an understaffed department, we both had traumatic births with babies ending up needing neonatal intensive care. The only long term problems we have appear to be food intolerance’s that may have occurred despite the induction. However, we were robbed of a natural birth, suffered with PTS and are wary of having more children.
Oh dear – I am sorry…. And there are so many much gentler ways of encouraging a reluctant baby to come out – like acupuncture. If you do decide to try again, I would suggest doing a good natural childbirth/yoga related course. Most teachers are also very supportive when it comes to your labour and will help you get through without recourse to drugs.
Thank you for this advice. I will certainly follow this course if and when we finally decide we are ready. These events have changed the course of our family life. We don’t wish to have an only child and will be much more aware in future. The NHS fail to remember the serious life changing effect they can have on people.
It was a long time ago now but I had an excellent experience with natural child birth and a great yoga teacher – Janet Balaskas – at the Active Birth Centre. Do check them out as they now have a list of teachers on the site if you are nowhere near north London. Even if you cannot make it to classes she has written some very helpful books – and you could combine that with other more local classes. I think there are a number of natural birth organisations around now so you should be able to find something local. Good luck!
Thank you very much. This is valuable advice for anyone planning to have children.