Healthy Babies: Worth the Wait

There is a nice blog post on the Lamaze International Science and Sensibility Blog this week by Dr. Richard Waldman, the past president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.  In the blog post, Dr. Waldman discusses the importance of conversation and collaboration between doctors, nurses, midwives, doulas, and pregnant women to ensure that babies get the best start in life.

Dr. Waldman focuses specifically on the recent trend towards elective labor induction and elective C-sections before 39 weeks of gestation. This is also a focus of the March of Dimes "Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait" Campaign. As both Dr. Waldman and the March of Dimes point out, there is a growing trend over the past two decades of late preterm births. Dr. Waldman argues that the excellent care provided by NICU and neonatal nurseries has made both health professionals and women complacent about giving birth early.

Recent research, however, has shown that babies born after 39 weeks are generally healthier and do better in the long run, than babies born before 39 weeks. Of course, in some cases health risks to mom or baby make early labor induction/C-section a necessity. For most of us though, it makes sense to wait until 39 weeks or later to give birth, in order to allow the brain and other organs to fully develop. As someone who gave birth to my daughter at 41 weeks 1 day, I know how hard it can be to wait patiently for a baby to come. As the March of Dimes campaign states though, her good health has definitely made it worth the wait!

To read Dr. Waldman's original blog post, click here. To read about the March of Dimes campaign, click here.