Have induced labour if you’re a week overdue
PREGNANT women will be offered an induced labour when they are just one week overdue under new medical guidelines to cut the risk of stillbirths.
Babies are due at about 40 weeks, and women are currently offered induction on the NHS if they don’t go into labour naturally by 42 weeks.
But the health watchdog yesterday said that this should be lowered to 41 weeks to cut the risk of death and complications.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said discussing inductions at an earlier stage is likely to ‘increase the number of women who undergo induction’. But it stressed that the ultimate decision should still rest with mothers-to-be, and they will be given ‘every opportunity to go into spontaneous labour’.
Around one in five labours in the UK are induced, which is when contractions are started artificially through drugs. Evidence suggests induction can cut death rates, as pregnancies which go beyond 41 weeks carry a higher risk of complications.
The guidelines say NHS staff should inform women of risks associated with a pregnancy continuing beyond 41 weeks including ‘increased likelihood of caesarean birth, increased likelihood of the baby needing admission to a neonatal intensive care unit and increased likelihood of stillbirth and neonatal death’.
However, they said there was not enough evidence to support a blanket policy in favour of inducing pregnancies at 41 weeks and women should be able to discuss all options. Women who choose not to be induced should be asked if they wish to have additional foetal monitoring from 42 weeks, the guidelines said.
Nice added that staff should be aware that stillbirths are twice as likely in black babies and around 50 per cent higher in Asian babies compared to white babies. However, the watchdog backtracked on draft plans published in May that women most at-risk of complications should be offered induction from 39 weeks.
Sarah Siguine, of pregnancy charity Tommy’s, said: ‘With almost 5,000 stillbirths and neonatal deaths a year in the UK, this new guidance is a welcome step forward in efforts to change these unacceptable statistics...’