C- sections don’t always benefit babies’ health, studies find

LOS ANGELES — Cesarean sections are often performed when a baby is going to be born early. Likewise, sometimes labour is induced when a woman’s water breaks too early in the pregnancy. Two new studies suggest that these common practices may not benefit babies.

The papers, presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal- Fetal Medicine, challenge conventional wisdom. The first looked at 2,560 babies delivered preterm because they were small for gestational age. The study found that those delivered by C- section before 34 weeks of pregnancy had 30 per cent higher odds of developing respiratory distress.

The second study examined induction of labour after the rupture of membranes ( meaning the bag of water breaks). When this occurs, labour is often induced to prompt immediate delivery and lower the risk of infection in the baby. However, 536 women with ruptured membranes were assigned to undergo either induction of labour or close monitoring. Close monitoring extended pregnancy on average by 3.5 days.

“Due to these findings, we suggested expectant management as opposed to induced labour when possible,” the authors said.