|
 For mothers, laboring in water may help ease pain, lower the need
for anesthesia and potentially speed up the early, or first, stage
of labor before the cervix is fully dilated and the baby is ready to
emerge, according to new recommendations from the American College
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
But women should get out of the water before the second stage, when
it’s time to push.
“No specific maternal or infant risks have been identified with
first stage immersion,” said Dr. Joseph Wax, chairman of ACOG’s
committee on obstetrics practice and an author of the guidelines.
“Potential infant risks of second stage immersion include fresh
water drowning, serious infection, umbilical cord (snapping) with
(bleeding) and need for transfusion,” Wax added by email.
Previous studies included in a 2009 Cochrane review suggest that
labor in water may be associated with 10 percent lower odds of
epidural anesthesia use by women, the ACOG guidelines note.
In addition, labor in water averaged about 32 minutes shorter than
outside of water, the review of studies found.
It’s not clear from earlier studies whether the water labor itself,
or other aspects of the labor and delivery experience such as the
more frequent presence of doctors or nurses in the room might have
influenced these results.
At the same time, some undesirable outcomes of birth appear similar
in and out of the water. Women in both circumstances are equally
likely to experience tearing, require a procedure to cut the skin
between the vagina and anus to make more room for the baby to pass,
or to need forceps or other tools to help the infant out.
Still, some women may want a water birth as an alternative to a
medicated or hospital birth experience. Statistics are hard to come
by, but one study found about 9 percent of babies in the U.K. had
water births last year.
While laboring in the water may not necessarily benefit women, it’s
reasonable for women to try this as long as they’re healthy and
haven’t had any complications during pregnancy, according to the
ACOG recommendations.
[to top of second column] |
Women offered this option should be delivering their babies at full
term – from about 37 through 41 weeks gestation – and not earlier or
later, the guidelines advise.
When hospitals or birthing centers do allow women to get in the
water during labor, they should have a rigorous process for cleaning
tubs and pools to minimize infection risk, the recommendations also
note.
Even in the water, women and babies still need regular monitoring
for signs of distress, and doctors need to be ready to remove women
from tubs if urgent problems develop.
In the U.S., most hospitals don’t provide water labor and delivery,
noted Dr. Amos Grunebaum, chief of labor and delivery at NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The U.S., however, has more planned home births than any other
industrialized country, and at least some of these may be water
births, Grunebaum, who wasn’t involved in the ACOG recommendations,
said by email.
Home births are associated with a much higher risk of infant injury
and death than hospital deliveries, and it’s possible that
infections or other complications from water births might explain
some of the added risk, Grunebaum added.
“The new recommendations reinforce that immersion in water during
the second stage is an experimental procedure that should only be
performed as part of a clinical research trial with informed
consent,” Grunebaum said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1TptcZq American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists Committee Opinion no. 679, online October 24, 2016.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
