Mistakes by medical staff are usually to blame in cases where a baby suffers a lack of oxygen at birth, according to a new study from Norway.
Birth asphyxiation, or hypoxia, happens when a baby does not get enough oxygen before, during or right after birth. Oxygen deprivaton can result in brain damage, mental disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy or even death to the infant.
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Recently published results of a global study examining pre-term births reveal that male babies face greater risks while growing inside the womb, at birth and after birth.
The study, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, examined more than 15 million babies born prematurely worldwide. It found that boys have a 14 percent greater chance of being born prematurely than girls; preterm boys also have a higher risk of disability and death than preterm girls.
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Using 4-D scans, psychologists have uncovered that a baby learns to open its mouth in preparation for putting a hand in the mouth several weeks before full gestation.
Researchers from Durham and Lancaster universities in England performed 60 scans of 15 healthy fetuses at monthly intervals, between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. The youngest fetuses were more likely to touch the upper part and sides of their heads. But as the fetuses got older, they began to more often touch the lower part of their faces, including the mouth; the lower part of the face is the more sensitive part. By 36 weeks, a greater number of the babies began opening their mouths before touching them, suggesting that they were able to anticipate that they were about to touch their mouths. Younger fetuses tended to open their mouths after having placed their hand on it, meaning that they were responding to the touch.
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Many women who are having twins opt to have C-sections, to improve chances of having safe deliveries. But a new study, published in October, 2013, in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that moms and babies do equally well, whether the deliveries are vaginal or by C-section. Surgery was only performed when there were complications that could make vaginal delivery dangerous, such as when the second twin had entered the birth canal with the buttocks or feet first, rather than the head; this condition is known as a breech birth.
An experienced doctor is able to determine when to switch from a planned vaginal delivery, to a caesarean delivery, to improve odds that there will be no bad outcomes for the mother or for the babies. In the case of this study, which examined 2,800-plus deliveries, women who were planning to have their twins vaginally wound up getting C-sections 44 percent of the time. But this was still a big improvement over moms who had planned to have C-sections, and who got the surgeries 91 percent of the time (the other 9 percent went into labor and delivered their babies before a C-section could be performed).
Read MoreThe American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published new guidelines that strongly discourage cesarean sections unless they are medically indicated, on grounds that they can lead to complications for the mother as well as the newborn. The report was published in the organization’s March, 2013 edition of its journal, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and appears online on ACOG’s website.
The group states that vaginal deliveries should be the norm, and that every attempt should be made to avoid early cesarean deliveries. The recommendations are an attempt to reduce the skyrocketing rate of cesarean sections, by limiting “maternal-request” C-sections and early deliveries for presumed big babies.
Read MoreDespite the startling technical advances that the field of medicine has made in the last few decades, women are taking longer to give birth now than they did 50 years ago.
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