Anesthesia During Labor Hurts both Mother and Child

According to Dr. David Walsh, associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, England, the labor pain is beneficial for both mother’s and child’s health. He stresses that painkillers, such as epidural anesthesia, disturb the natural process of psychological connection between mother and child.

Pain in labor often helps regulate the rhythm of childbirth, strengthens the connection between the mother and the baby, and even prepares the mother to the responsibility of motherhood, says Dr. Walsh. Over the last 20 years the epidural rates have doubled and practically this method is used according to the woman’s request even if the drug increases medical risks during childbirth despite the existence of alternative, less invasive methods to control pain in labor are available. Moreover, according to Dr. Walsh, labor pain has positive physiological effects, as it helps establish a rhythm to childbirth and activate production of endorphins – hormones, which help women to adjust to pain.

The doctors also noted that the use of epidural anesthesia increases the chances of side effects, such as the need of hormone treatment and the use of devices, such as forceps, to complete the labor. Pediatricians are also concerned that long-term impacts of anesthesia are still unknown. Dr. Wash states that alternative methods of pain management, such as hypnosis, massage, yoga, and birthing pools, are safer for the mother’s and baby’s health.

Do you think women really need to go through this pain to become a real, full-fledged mother to her baby? Or is it just a statement of a man who never finds out how painful it is to give birth?

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/debbya.