Trouble In The Maternity Ward

Women are losing their power to give birth naturally by relying on caesareans and other interventions, according to a renowned medical expert.

Dr Michel Odent also warned that the increasing tendency towards women having their labours induced could impair their ability to breastfeed.

He urged midwives to do more to encourage natural births and even suggested they should calm mothers-to-be by knitting in the corner of the room.

In a stark warning, he said that if current trends continue, the ‘future of the human capacity to give birth is at risk’.

More than a quarter of births in the UK now involve a caesarean, with rates having doubled since 1990. This has largely been blamed on doctors being more cautious and keener to intervene if the labour is slow as well as a reluctance among women to go through birth without medication.

Dr Odent also highlighted figures showing that women who gave birth between 2002 and 2008 took an average of two and a half hours longer during the first stage of labour compared to those between 1959 to 1966. The French obstetrician believes that women are becoming increasingly dependent on other interventions such as forceps, epidural pain-relieving injections and other drugs.

He also warned against women routinely being given the drug oxytocin to induce labour or speed the process up. This is a naturally occurring hormone and Dr Odent said that giving it to women via drips suppressed their ability to produce it themselves. The hormone is also known as the ‘cuddle chemical’ as it is thought to play a crucial role in enabling a mother to bond with the newborn and produce milk

Dr Odent warned that if women lost their ability to produce it naturally, they would find it harder to breastfeed. Last year, 25 per cent of births were induced using oxytocin, a 7 per cent rise compared to the previous year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3094813/Mothers-losing-ability-birth-naturally-breastfeed-babies-claims-doctor-blames-rise-C-sections-use-drugs.html

If what he says is correct, this does not bode well for the future of humanity.