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Caesarean birth implications

We were discussing the rising Australian caesarean section rate during the workshop in Brisbane yesterday. There doesn’t seem to be the same level of concern in this country compared with the UK, where strenuous efforts have finally halted the rise there, with reports that for the first time in many years, the rate has remained steady over the past 12 months.

The high level of private obstetrics in Australia is likely to the main reason why no-one is worried it more women have surgical births. In the UK, private obstetrics is very limited, but the doctors still have enormous power over the maternity service, issuing guidelines that in many ways undermine the role of midwives by imposing very restrictive, obstetric orientated practice requirements on them.

Just before I left the UK, there was an interesting article in the Evening Standard (Tuesday March 30). It was titled “The shocking truth about Caesareans?” and was written by Michel Odent. He outlined the implications of caesarean birth on the emotional and physical development of the baby. For the first time in human history up to one third of babies are being born in ways that completely bypass the hormonal influences of normal labour. He suggests that this lack of exposure to the maternal hormones during birth may be the underlying cause of increasing rates of autism in children and a reduced capacity in women to love their children. He also points out that surgical births mean that babies are born in germ free environments and miss out on the beneficial exposure to the maternal bacteria and antibodies they would normal pick up during the journey down the birth canal. This lack of exposure means the baby’s intestinal system is vulnerable to colonisation by less favourable bacteria which may weaken the baby’s defences to illness later.

He quotes a number of studies that reveal that drug addiction, suicide, anorexia and juvenile crime are all higher when babies are born by caesarean section. The effects on the genetic makeup over several generations is also raised, if the trend to surgical birth is not stemmed.

Michel will be again visiting Australia next year and will no doubt expand on these themes during his presentation on our Future Birth tour in April 2005. It promises to be a very thought provoking presentation and will, I hope, be influential in igniting a fierce debate about the rising caesarean rate in this country.

Posted by andrea at April 15, 2004 08:25 AM

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