04/11/2021
Common intuitive feminine good sense as opposed to common automated robotic practise. Had I, as a first time mother 50+ years ago fiercely insisted on following my intelligence a lot of ensuing emotional problems may well have been avoided
There are some stunningly good reasons to offer to induce someone’s labour.
Serious pre-eclampsia, for one. That’s a brilliant reason to recommend induction.
Or where the baby has a health problem or condition that will certainly get worse if they stay in the womb for longer. Also a great reason to recommend inducing labour.
Being Black, Brown, Asian or mixed race?
🙄🤦🏿♀️
Being older or a bit fatter than average? Or having conceived via IVF or ARTs?
Having a suspected big baby, when we know that there’s a 15% margin of error either way on ultrasound estimation?
In some of these situations, some data show that there’s a slightly increased chance of stillbirth in those groups compared to some other groups.
But it’s complicated.
Sometimes, different studies show different things. The difference can be tiny. Most importantly, we often don’t have any robust studies showing that inducing labour will reduce the risk. And we DO have studies showing that induction has short, medium and long-term health consequences, leads to more intervention, can cause distress and trauma and a whole load of other things that aren’t ideal.
So there’s more to it than just recommending induction for anyone who is deemed to be “at higher risk.”
If you want to read more about the evidence, see www.sarawickham.com/iol
Because there’s nothing wrong with induction when it’s appropriate, justified and done after someone has made an informed decision that it’s right for them.
It’s just that this isn’t always what’s happening.
Yes, please feel free to repost, tag and share the original pic with my text and credit intact.
