07/11/2025
This is the kind of information that has been included in CEC's Birthing Your Baby class and private consultations for 30 years.
Re: EFM/CTG/monitoring: "Decades of research have shown that the tool does not reliably predict fetal distress. In fact, experts say, it leads to many unnecessary surgeries as doctors overreact to its ever-changing readouts.
The obstetrics field has long ignored these problems. Now, it’s putting more trust than ever on the flawed technology, often prioritizing business and legal concerns ahead of what’s best for patients, The New York Times found."
"On rare occasions, the fetal heartbeat can reveal when something has gone wrong. The trouble is, healthy babies have highly variable heart patterns. "
"Electronic monitoring is no more accurate than periodic stethoscope checks, studies have shown."
Round-the-clock fetal monitoring leads to unnecessary C-sections. But it’s used in nearly every birth because of business and legal concerns, The Times found.
