Women who opt for caesarean are just scared

Multiple news sources reported that Swedish scientists studied the attitudes of 496 pregnant women toward childbirth and followed them until three months after they gave birth. The study is published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.


The women were divided into three groups: those who had opted for a C-section for medical reasons; those who had elected C-secetion for other reasons and those who planned to have a normal delivery. The scientists found almost half of those having elective C-section had a "clinically significant" fear of childbirth while those having a natural birth or a caesarean for medical reasons had more negative experiences of childbirth.

The authors said "healthy women are sometimes criticised for choosing a C-section over a normal delivery", but this study reveals that a psychological reason may be behind it.


Source: "Expectation and experiences of childbirth in primiparae with caesarean section" BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 115 (3), 324–331. (full text via Athens)

Breaking the waters does not shorten labour

According to a Cochrane systematic review of 14 multicentre, randomised controlled trials involving 4893 women, amniotomy, also called breaking the waters, did not speed delivery.

Amniotomy, artificial rupture of the fetal membranes to induce labor, is one of the most commonly performed procedures to speed contractions, thereby shortening the length of labor. However, the reviewers said that there is little evidence that a shorter labor has benefits for either mother or child and concluded the evidence does not support the routine breaking the waters for women in spontaneous labour.

Source: "Amniotomy for shortening spontaneous labour" - Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4.