Drugs and anaesthetics

Questions to ask What to ask if you are offered drugs for easing pain in labour Drugs and their effects How drugs can effect you and your baby. Anaesthetic injections Anaesthetic drugs can be given by injection to relieve pain during labour. Addiction The link between drugs for pain in labour and later drug addiction in the child.

These notes are taken from Preparing for Birth: Mothers by Andrea Robertson. We would recommend that you purchase a copy of this booklet, so that you have a hard copy to take with you to your pre-natal visits and to use for reference during labour and birth. The information below is copyrighted.

All of this information is backed by reliable scientific research. This evidence can be found in a number of publications:

• A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Birth
• Pursuing the Birth Machine
• Obstetric Myths versus Research Realities
• Care in Normal Birth
• The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth
• See also Useful links

There are a number of drugs that may be offered to women during labour to ease the pain of labour. Before accepting any drugs, consider their possible effects carefully, just as you would for any drug offered in pregnancy. See Questions to ask about drugs before you accept them.

All drugs cross the placenta and will have an effect on the baby which will vary according to how much drug is used and how long it is in the mother's system before the baby is born.

Before birth, the mother will metabolise and eliminate the drug from her own body as well as her baby's. After birth, the baby must undertake these processes itself and this can take some time (days) due to its immature liver and kidneys.

It is impossible to predict how drugs will affect either the mother or her unborn baby. Everyone has their own tolerances to drugs, with some people finding that they are very sensitive while others are not. If you have not been exposed to the drugs given in labour before you will not know how they may affect you. It is impossible to know how your unborn baby will react to exposure to these drugs during labour.

There are alternative ways to ease the pain in labour without using drugs, and these should be explored fully before drugs are accepted.