Coaching women in childbirth has little impact

[Phlegm]

From Reuters:


WASHINGTON - Pregnant women coached through their first delivery do not fare much better than those who just do what feels natural, according to a study released on Friday.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern found that women who were told to push 10 minutes for every contraction gave birth 13 minutes faster than those who were not given specific instructions.

But they said the difference has little impact on the overall birth, which experts say can take up to 14 hours on average.

“There were no other findings to show that coaching or not coaching was advantageous or harmful,” said lead author Dr. Steven Bloom, the interim head of obstetrics and gynecology at the Dallas-based university.

“Oftentimes, it’s best for the patient to do what’s more comfortable for her,” he added.

Bloom and his team studied 320 first-time mothers who had simple pregnancies and did not receive epidural anesthesia.

About half were given specific instructions by certified nurse-midwives during the second stage of labor, when they were fully dilated. The rest were told to “do what comes naturally.”

On average, coached mothers trimmed the final stage to 46 minutes compared to 59 minutes, according to the study sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.

Women in both groups experienced about the same number of forceps use, Caesarian deliveries and skin tears, among other complications.

The results were published in the January issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Less clear was whether extra pushing encouraged by a coach could lead to bladder trouble.

In an earlier study, the researchers tested bladder function in 128 of the mothers three months later.

While such problems usually resolve on their own over time, women who had been coached had a smaller bladder capacity and felt the urge to urinate more often, they previously found.

Senior author Dr. Kenneth Leveno, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the school, said it was still not clear if the bladder problems could lead to long-term complications and more studies are needed.

“We don’t want to alarm patients about this,” he said.

Friday’s finding that coaching “confers neither benefit nor harm might be pre-empted if it is confirmed that coaching has deleterious long-term effects,” the study concluded.

[liquidstayce]

interesting.. I still think coaching is a good thing. I'm sure relaxing via a coach to keep you somewhat sane is helpful.

[Martrae]

I'd definitely take coaching and being done 10 minutes earlier....at that stage you just want the kid OUT!

[Veneficus]

Ven and I are doing our childbirth class here Jan.20/21st (weekend course vs. the 8 week course) and let me tell you how thrilled he is to spend close to 8 hours on a Saturday :P doing something he says I can do w/o special classes lol. Regardless, we are doing it and then i'll take the breastfeeding class by myself(part of the weekend course package). At our class they do much more then just "coaching" like infant cpr, newborn care, types of pain relief and coping techniques, tours of the hospital etc etc. so that seems worth it to me. As I told him, it's not just learning how to breathe.

~sav

[liquidstayce]

That sounds like a great program. We do a lot of classes at the hospital I work at as well. I have several nurses on my analyst team in IT. One of them worked for years in L&D and is still a lactate consultant on the side. I was up in neonatal with the little ones just a few weeks ago. Great QT and bonding time for you guys. It is good for both of you and the baby. I can't wait to have the chance to do that with Dana. It sounds wonderful.

[Darcler]

Just beware of the BreastNazi. Dont let her pressure you and stress you out if you dont like it or the baby wont take to it. It is noone's fault, no matter what the Nazi says.
I am still bitter about her.

[Tikker]

interesting.. I still think coaching is a good thing. I'm sure relaxing via a coach to keep you somewhat sane is helpful.

there is no relaxing!


ps, the biggest thing that the coach does is remind the girl to breathe

that sounds stupid, but think about it

90% of the time when you're trying to push something (or take a big shit!) you hold your breath and push hard~

while that seems ok, when there's a heart monitor on the baby, you can hear their heart slow down, and get a bit laboured each time the mom holds her breath

it's kinda freaky


so yeah, the coach is there to remind the woman to breath, and hold her hands, and that's about as good as you can do

ps

don't look at the fucking after birth, jeje