(no subject)
Home-birthers have been saying this for ages, but the scientific community just caught up: telling women when to push during labor is unnecessary, and may cause problems.
A couple of recent studies have found that the classic hospital model of labor-coaching, where a medical professional urgently tells a laboring woman to push at certain times, may be a bad idea. Yes, it does seem to speed the labor along a bit -- but at the cost of post-labor bladder troubles and damage to the pelvic floor muscles. They find that women labor more smoothly, with less fatigue and strain on themselves and their babies, if they're just told to do what feels natural.
Remarkably, it seems that women's bodies may be pretty well equipped to do this birth thing on their own, thanks. Who'd have thought?
So how long do you suppose it will take before medical institutions start putting this advice into action?
A couple of recent studies have found that the classic hospital model of labor-coaching, where a medical professional urgently tells a laboring woman to push at certain times, may be a bad idea. Yes, it does seem to speed the labor along a bit -- but at the cost of post-labor bladder troubles and damage to the pelvic floor muscles. They find that women labor more smoothly, with less fatigue and strain on themselves and their babies, if they're just told to do what feels natural.
Remarkably, it seems that women's bodies may be pretty well equipped to do this birth thing on their own, thanks. Who'd have thought?
So how long do you suppose it will take before medical institutions start putting this advice into action?