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![The FEAR is strangling all involved in or experiencing childbirth and we need to dispel it…bit by bit. My thoughts on why it’s an issue and what we can do is in my latest Substack post - link in bio and stories.
Or write FEAR in the comments and I’ll send you a link.
What are your thoughts on how we can regain public confidence and stop feeling so afraid ourselves [meaning those working in maternity services]. by @sheena_byrom](https://scontent-phl2-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/870302370_18642801430037462_2796524420786478432_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=105&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=CmVvj6NdcD8Q7kNvwGcaKbn&_nc_oc=AdqtmDhC4hSBvhSlstqjUpvwk7PTl9fmrfc-06aMF61sy0WQ0l0rX5kX8roSNbxlKbZHK4SnrXQHq-eb4svb_pVh&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-phl2-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=hJ2Qp7gTsfVkh0A8P3tmkQ&_nc_ss=70289&oh=00_AQQI95zzoJClnMCgTyRB-OEZaSWJ_3Tpvc2oLXcRMaNblQ&oe=6AF04F93)
![An elephant in the room: induction of labour
In England, spontaneous labour has fallen from 59% of births to 42% in ten years. One in three labours is now started by induction. Once labour is started artificially, physiology is interrupted, the chance of a caesarean almost doubles, and for a first baby it ends in an unplanned caesarean more than 40% of the time.
The overarching rationale is making babies safer. Baby deaths have fallen, slowly; the babies we still lose are mostly born too early, or carry placental problems, congenital conditions, or the weight of poverty and racism - none of which is solved by routine induction. When the US and Germany pushed their induction rates up, their stillbirth rates stayed the same, but women and birthing people’s experience deteriorated.
In last year’s national maternity survey, being involved in decisions about induction was one of the weakest scores. I hear the rest in birth reflection sessions, when people tell me how they felt coerced or said yes because they were frightened. They describe long days and nights on the ward alone, waiting for a room to become free, the loss of control, ferocity of synthetic contractions, the emergency rush to theatre because the baby wasn’t tolerating hyperstimulation or a ‘malposition’ (aka not being ready to come out), the long recovery, and the scars, both physical and emotional.
Every caesarean causes cumulative harm, raising the risk in the next pregnancy, of a placenta growing into the wall of the womb, of rupture, of stillbirth. Babies born this way meet a different world of bacteria first, have more asthma and allergy as children and they are less likely to be breastfed at 6 months. These risks are not routinely discussed when an induction is being booked.
This overmedicalisation comes from a system so frightened of one rare outcome that it produces many common ones, and calls it safety.
When are we going to start joining the dots between our induction epidemic, the caesarean rate, breastfeeding rates and trauma?
#Induction #BirthTrauma #Caesarean #InformedChoice #PhysiologicalBirth
[Full blog incoming] by @sheena_byrom](https://scontent-phl2-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/868156712_18025025360874845_4256892645694798894_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=OlLvmpg2DxUQ7kNvwGGyTOz&_nc_oc=Adp5ng96AdPWArl6Ll9fY2rAL-EFpOB7b1ncLqZ-9vU1orazSuQqoiVeiqVCj3aZBRKVRfkgslrW1R5s75QxoTGv&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-phl2-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=hJ2Qp7gTsfVkh0A8P3tmkQ&_nc_ss=70289&oh=00_AQQ24QHCptG5S56sdphVA3lresZX-mEvOJt7Ty3sbNzwCw&oe=6AF08107)
