C-sections Putting Babies at Risk
January 11, 2009 by Eliza Ferree
Filed under News & Media
I’m not sure if it is true or not, honestly I’ve never had to have a c-section so I’ve no clue if it is a good thing or not. But according to the University of Alabama (UAB) women that give birth before 39 weeks via c-section are actually putting their babies at risk.
How? The baby’s lugs and respiratory systems aren’t entirely formed. I’ve heard this before where no baby should be born before 39-40 weeks, otherwise complications are possible. As we know all preemie babies have a risk due to their size but now they are saying those that are being taken out early pose a greater risk.
The 13,258 women studied were those who underwent an elective cesarean of a viable infant at 37 weeks gestation or later in the absence of labour or other obstetric or medical indications for early cesarean delivery (prior to 39 weeks).
The researchers looked at whether an infant who was delivered at 37 weeks later died or was diagnosed with complications.Of the 13,258 women who had elective repeat cesarean sections, as many as 35.8 percent were delivered before 39 weeks.
The researchers found that babies born at 37 weeks, were two times more likely to suffer with conditions common to babies born too soon, and at 38 weeks, they were one and a half times more likely.
Tita said these findings highlight the importance of not delivering a baby before 39 weeks for the sake of convenience.
I’m not saying this is right or wrong, but I’ll ask you. Did you have a c-section before 39 weeks? How is your baby doing? Did they experience any problems? Lets do our own little research right here.
My daughter was born by elective C (my son was an emegency C and that was a whole nightmare! so I decided just in case, that I would rather have my doctor that I knew and trusted deliver the baby on a scheduled day)
She was born at 38 weeks and besides her being smaller then her big brother (he was 8lbs 15oz to her 7lbs 11ozs) there was no real difference in their breathing or lack of illness (neither got sick).
She just fed a lot more frequently and for shorter timeframes then he did but he was an abnormal baby according to all the information and she was technically then norm. So I guess to wrap it up, no differences here!
I’ve had 4 c-sections. The first was an emergency at 40w 1d. My 2nd at 39w 1d. My 3rd at 37w6d – no issues at all. My 4th at 38w6d (and my only boy) we had a few issues, none that were due to him being born early, though. My milk was very slow to come in due to blood loss during the section (my body had to decide “make milk” or “make blood” and it chose blood) – therefore the baby lost 12% of his birth weight and became dehydrated (easily fixed with supplementation *after* nursing for two days). He was a little “wetter” at birth and had to be suctioned just a bit, which none of his sisters required. He was screaming before he was fully delivered. LOL
My OB had wanted to wait until I was at least 39 weeks to deliver my son since white males tend to have the most complications when delivered before 39 weeks and via c-section; however, I started having contractions and he was afraid I’d go into labor, which he felt was a greater risk than delivering the baby a few days early was. (he felt the risk of rupture was higher than the risk of issues with the baby)
They are scheduled early for safety reasons? I imagine that this is a sort of going for the best case scenrio. I can’t imagine that a dr would go for the early birth for only convenience sake, would they?
We were all c-section babies. Both Robin and I were emergency – Mom went into labor with us, only Brad was planned. Robin was very early though and was born with her lungs not fully formed. She later had trouble of a different kind and it was discovered that she was born with over-sized bladder. Eventually she grew into it and as far as I know, her kids – all c-sections, by the way – had no trouble with their kidneys or their lungs.
Interesting post, Eliza.
I had an emergency c-section at 36 weeks and my daughter was fine. She didn’t have to go to the NICU and was able to come home with me at discharge. She weighed in at 6 lbs 12ozs.
Nice post Eliza! We have a lot of great info on our website if you’re interested. You can also check out our blog post,
“Scheduled c-section: May not be good for your baby” http://newsmomsneed.marchofdimes.com/?p=1942