Does painless childbirth affect the baby's IQ? To give birth or not to give birth? Experts sort it out!

gossip:

Someone said: "When I gave birth in the delivery room, I felt like my internal organs were broken, and it was broken by the pain!" How painful is childbirth? In the medical pain index, it is usually divided into 10 levels, and the uterine contraction pain experienced during childbirth is a level 10 pain. And this kind of pain will not go away in a short time, and often lasts for several hours or even more than ten hours. For people with low pain tolerance or long labor, the horror can be imagined. And the impact of labor pain is far more than just physical, there is also the fear of giving birth and mental torture...

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So, does it mean that women have to go through a life-and-death pain when giving birth? The answer is of course no.

With the advancement of science and technology, painless childbirth (spinal anesthesia and labor analgesia) has emerged, which has obviously become a blessing for expectant mothers who want to give birth naturally but are afraid of pain. However, after years of full popularization of painless childbirth in China, the use rate of labor analgesia in my country is still relatively low (the use rate of labor analgesia in European and American countries is more than 85%).

Recently, the Weibo topic #5.6 million expectant mothers do not have painless childbirth# has become a hot search on Weibo, sparking discussion among netizens. Since there are already such good pain relief technologies, why are there still so many

Why are expectant mothers unwilling to have the procedure? What are they struggling with? Let's listen to the rumors about painless childbirth.

"Painless childbirth is not good for the baby, it's best not to do it."

"Anesthetics will hurt the baby and affect its development and intelligence, so it's better not to use them."

"The anesthetic will enter the breast milk. If you give the painless injection, your baby won't be able to have his first mouthful of breast milk."

"I heard that the pain relief procedure requires an injection in the back, which will damage the nerves in the lumbar spine and cause back pain in the future."

"After the epidural, I will lose my strength and won't be able to exert any force, so it will take longer to deliver the baby."

Are you familiar with the above rumors? So, what is painless childbirth? Is a shot in the back really that scary? Today, the author will sort out these questions at once!

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analyze:

Will painless childbirth affect the baby’s IQ and breastfeeding?

To know the answer, let us first understand what painless childbirth is.

To be precise, painless childbirth is medically called "labor analgesia". It is done by the anesthesiologist who punctures the lumbar intervertebral space of the parturient, inserts a catheter, and then connects the analgesic device. The anesthetic drug then slowly enters the spinal canal through the catheter, and the analgesic effect is achieved through the "intraspinal nerve block technology".

During the whole process, the concentration of anesthetics is low, highly controllable and safe. Not only can the pain of parturients during delivery be significantly reduced or even eliminated, but parturients can also self-control medication through an analgesic pump according to the degree of pain, and the analgesic effect can last until the end of delivery.

This is similar to cesarean section anesthesia, except that cesarean section anesthesia is a one-time administration with a larger dosage, while painless delivery is a continuous and adjustable administration with a much smaller dosage than cesarean section. Moreover, these drugs only work locally in the spinal canal, not directly into the blood vessels.

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Even if it enters the mother's blood, it is filtered through the placenta and enters the baby's body in very small amounts, almost negligible. Therefore, the anesthetic drugs for painless delivery neither affect the baby's IQ nor breastfeeding.

Will painless childbirth cause back pain?

Some people always say that pain in the lower back can be caused by pain in the epidural. In fact, there are many factors that cause lower back pain after childbirth, such as weight gain during pregnancy, improper breastfeeding posture, lack of exercise, rectus abdominis separation, changes in hormone levels, calcium deficiency, etc.

The implementation of painless delivery technology requires strict compliance with the indications for labor analgesia. Anesthesiologists need to evaluate before giving painless delivery, and it is not something that mothers can give whenever they want. Moreover, painless delivery is often performed by senior anesthesiologists, and the probability of damaging spinal nerves is extremely low. Therefore, there is no need to worry too much about painless delivery causing back pain after delivery.

The author suggests that instead of worrying about back pain caused by painless childbirth, it is better to control your weight during pregnancy, actively supplement calcium, and exercise appropriately.

Is it easy to have less strength to give birth without painless childbirth?

Since each expectant mother has different sensitivity to labor analgesia, the analgesic effect of painless labor varies from person to person. But expectant mothers can rest assured that labor analgesia will 100% reduce the pain caused by uterine contractions, but the degree of relief varies from person to person.

For pregnant women who are not sensitive enough, they can use an analgesic pump to self-administer medication and increase the dosage according to their own anesthesia effect until they feel comfortable.

Expectant mothers may not feel any pain at all. But the absence of uterine contraction pain does not mean that pregnant women cannot exert their strength to give birth. Even in this case, there will be midwives in the delivery room who will definitely provide scientific guidance based on the uterine contraction situation.

in conclusion:

The claims that painless childbirth will "affect the baby's IQ", "cause back pain", "lead to inability to give birth" are pure rumors, and I hope everyone will not believe them. Implementing painless childbirth during childbirth can not only reduce pain, but also protect pregnant women and fetuses and increase the rate of natural childbirth.

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer｜China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Yang Liwei, Director of Obstetrics Department, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Executive Deputy Director of Prenatal Diagnosis Center, and Executive Deputy Director of Critical Maternal and Childbirth Treatment Center

Review | Tang Qin, Chief Researcher, Science Popularization Department, Chinese Medical Association