23/11/2019
“🅃🄷🄴 🄱🄸🄶 🄱🄰🄱🅈 🅂🄲🄰🅁🄴 🅃🄰🄲🅃🄸🄲”
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A suspected large baby is the 4th most common reason for an induction. And it’s also the 5th most common reason for a c-section.
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At the end of pregnancy, birthers are routinely given an ultrasound to estimate the baby’s size.
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If the baby seems large, the care provider will more than likely recommend an induction or elective cesarean.
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The main reason why care providers fear a large baby is the possible risk of shoulder dystocia.
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Are large babies at a higher risk for shoulder dystocia? Yes, they are.
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But can smaller babies also have shoulder dystocia? Yes! Smaller babies account for about half of the cases of shoulder dystocia!
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Therefore, it’s not fair to try to predict who will have shoulder dystocia. Any child is at risk. And it’s also fair to say that most cases of shoulder dystocia are handled by the care provider without any harmful consequences.
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Rates of shoulder dystocia are higher in birthers who have type I or type II diabetes.
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Research has always shown that a care providers suspicion of a large baby is riskier than a large baby itself.
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Birthers suspected of having a large baby have triple the induction rate, triple the cesarean rate and quadrupling maternal complication rate compared to birthers who were not suspected of having a large baby but had one anyway.
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When a care provider suspects a big baby (as compared to not knowing the baby was going to be big), this tripled the Cesarean rates and made birthers more likely to experience complications, without affecting the rate of shoulder dystocia.
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Care providers have less patience for first time parents and are more likely to diagnose birthers with “stalled labor” due to suspected large baby and recommend a cesarean.
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Both the care providers guess and ultrasound estimate of baby’s size is extremely unreliable.
It’s only accurate about 20-30% of the time.
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ImprovingBirth.org says:
“It would take nearly 3,700 unnecessary c-sections to prevent 1 baby from having permanent nerve damage due to being a suspected “big baby” among non-diabetic birthing people”
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Here’s the conclusion:
🗣ultrasound estimation of weight is inaccurate, shoulder dystocia and nerve injury are unpredictable, and induction for big baby does not decrease the Cesarean rate or the risk of shoulder dystocia. So why are we doing routine growth scans and basing care off of the “estimated size”?🗣
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PhotoCred: FirstGlance Photography
