Respected Childbirth… What is it really?
August 5, 2021 | Gynecology, Pregnancy, Safety | by Dr. Richey
Whenever humanized (or respected) childbirth is discussed, it amazes me how quickly many people draw their conclusions without knowing exactly what it is about. I almost always find the same tendency to associate it with misconceptions.
Our wrong beliefs.
I want to start by clarifying that I understand that if this is a topic that you do not know, or that you have never heard of, it is perfectly normal for you to associate it with preconceived or wrong ideas, precisely because of that lack of information, and also because of the misinformation that there are many times on health issues. Hence my interest in trying to help you understand a little more in depth all that this practice means and at the same time, trying to explain why we are wrong if we associate it with those “ideas” that circulate around, but are not true and no do they have any medical support.
What is not humanized or respected childbirth.
• It is not giving up medical technology and giving birth as was done in the past.
• It is not to avoid a cesarean section at all costs, endangering the life of the mother and her baby.
• It is not synonymous with giving birth in a bathtub.
• It is not a fad.
• It does not mean that professionals are more “good”.
• It is not giving birth without an epidural.
• It is not leaving aside the scientific evidence, it is quite the opposite.
What it really is, humanized or respected childbirth.
• It is to respect the physiology of childbirth, avoiding unnecessary interventions that the same scientific evidence has shown do not benefit the process.
• It is to respect the real needs of women, both physical, emotional and cultural.
• It is to respect the scientific evidence: each medical-surgical intervention of any kind, has its specific indications, and its convenience or not is widely demonstrated. Unnecessary interventions, which according to scientific evidence, do not help the process (or are even counterproductive) should be avoided no matter how standardized they are in the hospital routine.
• It is to provide the woman with a climate of intimacy, tranquility and trust, so that she feels supported, calm, sheltered …
• It is to inform correctly: the woman has the right to know the pros and cons of each of the options (always based on scientific evidence). This would largely avoid the practice of defensive medicine that can lead to excess interventionism.
• It is to respect the freedom of women in making informed decisions (within the recommendations promulgated by the WHO). At this point I clarify that with this model of care women really have the possibility to choose, which is not always possible with the other model.
• It is to respect the mother-child bond: promote skin-to-skin contact from birth, avoid separating them unless strictly necessary.
It turns out that all these measures are perfectly applicable; Each of the points would give for another post explaining all the measures that can be implemented to make it possible, and they are not complicated at all, everything is much easier than we imagine.
Hospitals that already implement respected delivery have significantly reduced rates of cesarean sections, instrumental deliveries, achieve a higher success rate in breastfeeding, and greater user satisfaction.
In short, and based on these results, everything translates into better health for the mother and her son or daughter.
I think there are no excuses for the evidence that we can do much better. Let us trust that it is so.
Thank you very much for reading the full article, you can certainly share it to help and raise awareness to help, learn and respect the rights of pregnant women.