Why Natural Birth: Benefits to Baby
I love tequila. And yes, I know it wreaks havoc on my liver, and nearly every college grad has a “terrible tequila night” story. Still, the elixir maintains its place in my top five drinks of choice. But as much as I love the beverage, I choose to forgo during pregnancy. Why? While a tipsy night out is minimally harmful to my body, it is extremely harmful to my baby. And in case you didn’t make the connection, I apply this same principle to the oft-debated epidural. I wouldn’t give my infant a frozen marg, nor would I give them an adult-sized dose of opioids! Babies get numerous benefits from a natural birth, and today I’m going to share my favorite four.
Reason #1: The Obvious
In Dr. Robert A. Bradley’s classic work Husband Coached Childbirth, he observed a number of labor and delivery nurses turning away from their practice to birth their own children naturally. Why would a trained L&D nurse mistrust the field she knows so well? I’ll let him explain:
They had observed, as assistants, the color, muscle tone, and immediate cry of a lusty, healthy, natural-childbirth, unmedicated baby, compared with the limp, blue baby of a medicated mother. The difference is obvious. (Bradley, 46)
Remember that until the umbilical cord is cut, everything that helps or hurts your body, will help or hurt your baby. The fentanyl in a typical epidural is over 25 times the amount considered safe for infants, and studies reveal the scary effects. The babies of medicated mothers are often lethargic and have difficulty moving themselves into a good position for delivery. After birth they latch very poorly (if at all) and need several hours to “wake up” (i.e., wait for the medication to wear off) before breastfeeding. Hence my first reason for opting out of pain meds is, well, the obvious. While the occasional tequila night might do some damage to my body, it would be devastating for my little one.
Reason #2: Safer Birth
Within 10-15 minutes after an epidural is placed, 30% of babies’ heart rates will decelerate. This all-too-common side effect is caused by the lowering of Mom’s blood pressure. While the risk can be mitigated by providing IV fluids, this is only successful 2.7% of the time. Sadly most of these babies’ heart rates will continue to decelerate and Mom will require an emergency c-section.
In such cases, this scary surgery is a life-saving one; but let’s say that the medical staff are late to the game. If Baby’s heartbeat falls below 100-110 BPM for too long, then he is at very high risk for brain damage, nerve damage, paralysis, cerebral palsy, hypoxia, and even death. All this to say, if ever I chose the epidural route, I would need to have great confidence in the staff at hand.
Reason #3: Lower Risk of Autism
I know, I know, everything causes autism. And you know what? That’s not entirely wrong. So very many environmental toxins have been introduced to our industrialized society that it’s hard to pinpoint just one culprit. Nevertheless, it has been noted that a pregnant mother’s exposure to non-organic substances can contribute to autistic tendencies in her child. In fact, babies born in cities rife with pollution and noxious gasses have 2.5 times the autism rates as their country-dwelling counterparts. Another interesting piece to this puzzle is that rural moms are nearly twice as likely to birth naturally. While these findings could be coincidental, a 2022 Canadian study confirmed that epidural babies are slightly more likely to exhibit autistic traits down the road. Now these numbers are low and there are plenty of medicated births that produce some dandy kids (hey, I’m an epidural baby too!). But given that autism affects 1 in 30 children these days, I choose to do what I can to lower that likelihood for my own family.
Reason #4: Better Mother-Child Bonding
Something we want to make clear to all parents is that you must care for yourself in order to adequately care for someone else. From fevers to headaches, the side effects of an epidural are often responsible for delaying Mom’s ability to tend to her newborn.
I have a dear friend, let’s call her Rachel. A natural-minded mama, she was excitedly planning her unmedicated birth when a checkup revealed that she had severe preeclampsia. Scared and uncertain (this was her first, after all) she agreed to the induction recommended by her OB. Rachel declined an epidural and labored hard over the next two days. On the morning of day three, however, she was exhausted. Contractions were intense, very close together, and Baby was nowhere near delivery. When the nurse renewed the epidural offer, Rachel tearfully accepted. Within an hour her lower half was numb and the pain was now… in her head? A splitting headache and high fever had replaced the discomfort of her contractions. Another 36 hours trudged by and little Oliver was finally in her arms. While relieved it was over, Rachel’s fever continued and she had to pass Oliver to her husband. Over the next few days she slowly got to know her new son, but even after bringing him home she felt as though there were a stranger in the house. Breastfeeding was a challenge and the baby she held in her arms “just didn’t feel like mine.”
The Golden Hour following birth is a crucial period of time for lifelong emotional health and neurodevelopment in the infant. A 2013 study found that mothers who do not prioritize this hour exhibit less maternal behaviors for as long as 12 months down the road. When Rachel missed this “golden” opportunity, she set the stage for bonding and behavioral difficulties in her child. In another study, mothers who opted for an epidural described their babies as more difficult to care for as soon as one month after birth.
Rachel is in no way weak-minded or a bad mother – she is one of the strongest women I know! I tell her story to highlight the long term importance of postpartum bonding. In no way do I judge worried parents for making these emergent decisions – read my own story for crying out loud! It’s just that the golden hour allows for better breastfeeding, emotional development, bonding, and more, which is why (barring emergencies, of course) I choose to forego all interventions that could detract from this beautiful time.
The benefits a natural birth bring to a child are too numerous to count. I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite four, but I’m curious…what do you think? Do you have a favorite that I didn’t list here?
SOURCES
Bradley, Dr. Robert A. Bantam. “Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth”, 2008
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1481670/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3713634/
https://www.rossfellercasey.com/news/what-does-a-low-fetal-heart-rate-mean-for-the-baby/#:~:text=If%20the%20baby's%20heart%20rate,a%20C%2Dsection%20is%20required
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15863467/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3320121/#:~:text=Regarding%20hospital%20location%2C%20Rust%20et,is%20consistent%20with%20our%20findings.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792720
