Having children? Ten questions to ask

Have you decided how to have children? It's your choice!

First, you should learn as much as you can about all your options. There are many different ways to care for the mother and her baby during childbirth and childbirth.

Better, healthier delivery care for mothers and babies is called "mother-friendly." Some birthing sites or environments are more mother-friendly than others.

A team of birth care specialists came up with this list of 10 things to look for and ask. Medical research supports all of these things. These are also the best ways to be mother-friendly.

When you decide where to have a baby, you may choose from different places, such as a birthing center, a hospital, or a home delivery service.

This is what you should expect and ask for in your birth experience. It's important to understand how the person you're talking to handles these 10 questions about caring for you and your baby. You may want to ask the following questions to help you learn more.

1. Q: "Who can accompany me during childbirth and childbirth?" ”

Mother-friendly birth centres, hospitals and home delivery services will enable the mother in labour to decide who she wants to be with during childbirth. This includes fathers, partners, children, other family members or friends.

They will also have a specially trained person accompany the mother who gives birth to help women cope with childbirth and childbirth. This person is called a dowra or labor support worker. She never left her birth mother alone. She encouraged her, comforted her, and helped her understand what was happening to her.

They will have midwives as part of the staff so that the mother who gives birth can be accompanied by a midwife when she wishes.

2. Q: "What happens during normal childbirth and delivery in your environment?" ”

If they provide mother-friendly care, they will tell you how they handle every part of the birth process. For example, how often do they give the mother a drug to speed up childbirth? Or do they let childbirth usually happen at their own time?

They will also tell you how often they perform certain programs. For example, they will record the percentage of caesarean sections (caesarean sections) they have had each year. If the number is too high, you will need to consider putting your baby in another place or with another doctor or midwife.

Here are some numbers that we recommend asking.

They should not be able to use oxytocin (a drug) to start the workforce of more than 10 women (10%).

They should not have had more than 1 episiotomy (EE-PEE-ZEE-AH-tummy) in 5 women (20%). They should try to lower that number. (Episiotomy is an incision at the vaginal opening to make it larger during childbirth.) Most of the time it is not necessary. ）

They should not have done more than 1 in 10 women (10%) if it was a community hospital caesarean section. In hospitals caring for many high-risk mothers and babies, the rate should be 15% or less.

A caesarean section is a major procedure in which doctors cut open the mother's stomach into her uterus and then remove the baby through an opening. Mothers who have undergone a caesarean section can usually have a future child normally. Look for a place of birth where 6 out of every 10 women (60%) or more mothers who have undergone a caesarean section continue to give birth to other babies through the birth canal.

3. Q: "How do you allow for differences in culture and belief?" ”

Mother-friendly birth centres, hospitals and home delivery services are sensitive to the mother's culture. They know that mothers and families have different beliefs, values and customs.

For example, you might have a custom that only women can accompany you during childbirth and childbirth. Or maybe your beliefs include religious rituals to be performed after birth. There are many other examples that may be very important to you. If the place is motherly and friendly, they will support you in doing what you want. Tell your doctor or midwife what special you want before childbirth begins.

4. Q: "Can I walk and move around when I give birth?" What position do you recommend for childbirth? ”

In a mother-friendly environment, you can move around and around freely during childbirth. You can choose the most comfortable and best position for you during childbirth and delivery. (There may be medical reasons for putting you in a certain position.) The mother-friendly environment almost never allows a woman to lie flat on a stirrup during childbirth.

5. Q: "When my nurses, doctors, midwives or institutions need to work together, how do you make sure everything goes well?" ”

Q: "If I have to move to another place during childbirth, can my doctor or midwife accompany me?" Can you help me find people or agencies in my community who can help me before and after the baby is born? ”

Mother-friendly places and people will have a specific plan to stay in touch with others who take care of you. They will talk to other people who have provided you with fertility care. They will help you find people or institutions in your community to help you. For example, they might put you in touch with someone who can help you breastfeed.

6. Q: "What do you usually do to women who give birth?" ”

Experts say some care methods during and during childbirth are better and healthier for mothers and babies. Medical research shows us which care methods are better and healthier. Mother-friendly environments use only the methods that have proved to be optimal by scientific evidence.

Sometimes, the methods used in birth centres, hospitals and home delivery services have not been shown to be most beneficial for mothers or babies. For example, studies have shown that breaking water bags often doesn't help.

Below is a list of things that we recommend asking. They do not help and can harm healthy mothers and babies. They have not been proven to be best suited for mothers or babies and are not mother-friendly.

They should not track your baby's heart rate all the time with a machine (called an electronic fetal monitor). Instead, it's best to have your nurse or midwife listen to your baby from time to time.

They should not be bags that break your seawater at the beginning of the labor year.

They should not be able to use IV (a needle to give you fluid from your vein).

They should not tell you that you cannot eat or drink during childbirth.

They shouldn't shave you.

They shouldn't give you an enema.

Birth centers, hospitals, or home delivery services that do these things for most mothers are not mother-friendly. Keep in mind that these should not be used without special medical reasons.

7. Q: "How do you help mom stay as comfortable as possible?" Aside from medications, how can you help moms alleviate the pain of childbirth? ”

The person caring for you should know how to help you cope with childbirth. They should know ways to deal with pain without using medications. They should suggest things like changing your position, relaxing in a warm bath, massaging and using music. These are called comfort measures.

Comfort measures help you handle childbirth more easily and make you feel more in control. The person who cares for you won't try to convince you to use painkillers unless you need it to deal with a particular medical problem. All medications affect babies.

8. Q: "What if my baby is born prematurely or has a special problem?" ”

Mother-friendly places and people will encourage mothers and families to touch, hug, breastfeed and care for their babies as much as possible. Even if your baby is born prematurely or has a health problem at birth, they will encourage it. (However, there may be special medical reasons why you should not hold and care for your baby.) ）

9. Ask, "Do you circumcise a baby boy?" ”

Medical studies have shown that there is no need to perform circumcision on baby boys. It is painful and dangerous. Mother-friendly places of birth do not encourage circumcision unless it is for religious reasons.

10. Q: "How do you help moms who want to breastfeed?" ”

The World Health Organization lists ways in which fertility services support breastfeeding.

They will tell all pregnant mothers why and how to breastfeed.

They help you start breastfeeding within 1 hour of your baby's birth.

They show you how to breastfeed. They also show you how to keep breast milk flowing in even if you have to leave your baby for work or other reasons.

Newborns should have only breast milk. (However, there may be medical reasons why they can't have it right away.) ）

They encourage you to stay with your baby all day and all night. This is called "intercourse".

They encourage you to feed your baby when they want to, rather than at a specific time.

They should not give breastfed babies pacifiers ("dummies" or "pacifiers").

They encourage you to join breastfeeding mother groups. They will tell you how to contact groups near you.

They have a written policy on breastfeeding. All employees know and use the ideas in the policy.

They teach employees the skills they need to perform these steps.