A Different Painkiller For Cesarean
July 9, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
Improved pain relief after a Caesarean section can help moms bond with their babies and begin breastfeeding more quickly, notes Anthony Bamigboye, lead researcher of a new study by Cochrane Researchers.
The study, a review of 20 studies involving 1,150 women, found that women who were treated with local anaesthetic (in addition to general or regional anaesthetics) didn’t require as much morphine or other opioid drugs for pain after Caesarean sections.
The anaesthetic was either injected into the abdominal wall or applied to the wound as a solution. “This review is particularly important in light of the growing number of women giving birth by Caesarean section,” said Bamigboye of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. A quarter of all births in the UK, US and Canada involve Caesarean sections.
Researchers explain that a cost benefit analysis should be performed to see if the reduction in painkillers taken can offset the added cost of the local anaesthetic.
If you’re planning on a Caesarean section, or think it may be in the cards, ask your doctor about receiving a local anaesthetic. It probably couldn’t hurt.
(Image via flickr)
