HealthWriting.com
ePregnancy 2003
By Kathy Summers***
Cesarean LightIf you have to have a cesarean, how about ordering it ... light. A new technique called the "cesarean light" takes about 20 minutes and leaves out several traditional steps that are now thought to be unnecessary. The technique, developed by doctors from the Vienna General Hospital (AKH), has been tested successfully on 1,000 women over two years at the Department of Gynecology.
With this new technique, women lose half as much blood, and only three layers require stitching instead of seven. Blood flow is less compromised so healing is faster. Fewer stitches mean fewer adhesions, so the tissue heals naturally.
Since the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology published the papers, the AKH has had so many requests for information that it has now produced a video for doctors. If you already have a date scheduled, the cesarean light might not be available in time, but if you're worried about a second cesarean in the future, you may be able to ask your doctor to "lighten up."***
Swaddle Me, Coddle Me
Infants sleep better and wake less when they're swaddled and placed on their backs, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine confirms. Swaddled newborns startle less and feel more secure, like they're still in the womb, so they sleep longer.
Some parents worry about babies choking or vomiting in this position, but no evidence supports that fear. In fact, placing infants on their backs reduces the risk of SIDS. Since pediatricians started recommending the back position in 1992, SIDS has decreased by more than 40 percent.
The problem is, after about two months, infants in the United States tend to kick loose of American style wrappers and turn over, so some parents begin to place them that way. But, in cultures where mothers have swaddling down to a science, babies sleep happily on their backs until a much older age.That's a Wrap
1. Place a small blanket flat in a diamond shape.
2. Fold down top corner six inches.
3. Rest baby's head just above the fold.
4. Pull one side across baby's body, arm against chest.
5. Tuck flap underneath baby's body.
6. Bring bottom corner up and tuck under top edge.
7. Pull other side across, arm held snugly.
8. Cuddle and kiss good night.***
Turn Turn Turn
Most babies are born head first, but if your baby plans to land like a paratrooper, your doctor may be able to gently persuade him to tuck and roll. Doctors can externally rotate the fetus from a breech to a vertex presentation in a procedure called external cephalic version. This procedure reduces your chances of a breech presentation at term, which reduces your chances of needing a cesarean.
The procedure has an overwhelming success rate with much less risk than previously thought. Using ultrasonic gel on the mother's abdomen, the doctor gently disengages the breech, and then guides the fetus in a forward roll or back flip. If the baby is going to turn, it will happen easily, but some revert back later, needing a repeat procedure. External cephalic version has an 80 percent success rate with a 16 percent reversion rate.***
Nope to Soap?What could a little soap and water hurt, you ask? In recent years, doctors preferred recommending simple soap and water to keep newborns' umbilical stumps clean. Once infants were home with their mothers, doctors believed it was unnecessary to continue using the potentially carcinogenic mixture of purple and green dyes that stained your fingers and turned the stump brittle and black. But a study published in January by the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board found a higher risk of infection among babies cleaned with just soap and water.
"To dye or not to dye," that is still the question, according to the report in the journal Pediatrics. The dye is disgusting. The concern is that without the dye, infants could get a bacterial infection called Omphalitis that can lead to a fatal condition. The first sign of infection is a really bad smell. The dyes work. But if you choose not to use them, researchers say you should give "vigilant attention to the signs and symptoms of Omphalitis.
