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The harm of pushing too hard during labor

Giving Birth

The harm of pushing too hard during labor

Recently, a hospital in the United Kingdom stopped telling women to push when they’re in labor and the results are surprising.

Try stop pushing
The staff at the hospital started a project not to tell women in labor to push to see if it’ll reduce perineal tearing affecting almost 1 in 10 women who give birth the natural way in the UK.

In about a year after the program was implemented, the rate of women with severe tearing went down from 7% to 1%. An amazing result, gotten mainly by simply not telling the women to push during labor.

Their guidelines also discourage women from staying on their backs in labor — they are encouraged to try alternate positions. They also encourage women to slow down during labor, with nurses coaching them to breathe through contractions instead of pushing.

Support the baby’s weight.
Pulling a baby out is also discouraged. Once the shoulders come out, practitioners would support the baby’s weight as it emerges, so as to reduce the pressure on the perineum. Placing a hand against the perineum while the baby is coming out also ensures important counter-pressure and support for the perineum.

The program has been so successful that the results were published nationally, and there are plans to apply the same practice all over the UK.

The results of this study may not surprise many midwives and doctors, who practice this more natural way of childbirth. It is great news for every woman that these methods are, at last, getting formal acceptance as the better, safer way for women to deliver.

Since this idea is new to most hospitals, you may need to find a very modern or open-minded doctor to agree to this practice.

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