Side effects of oxytocin

In daily life, we often hear about oxytocin because it is used when pregnant women have not given birth for a while after their due date. As a medical device and therapeutic drug, many mothers are confused. Oxytocin can help induce labor, but are there any complications after use? What effects does oxytocin have on the fetus? In what situations is it more appropriate to use? Let's take a look below.

What are the side effects of oxytocin?

1. Oxytocin may cause excessive or unharmonious uterine contractions, resulting in intrauterine hypoxia of the fetus. Frequent and unharmonious uterine contractions may interrupt labor in pregnant women.

2. If the fetus is in a transverse position or has a narrow pelvis, even if oxytocin is used, the baby still cannot pass through the birth canal normally due to the transverse position of the fetus and the small pelvis, causing uterine rupture and fetal intrauterine hypoxia!

3. Because the uterine contraction is too obvious and the friction resistance of the pregnant woman during delivery is not very large, the fetus can be delivered quickly and the entire delivery process does not exceed 3 hours, resulting in premature delivery! In this way, due to insufficient time for disinfection and protection of the perineum, it may lead to adverse effects such as postpartum infection, birth canal laceration, and newborn fall injuries.

What does oxytocin do:

1. Prenatal induction of labor: When the pregnant mother finds abnormal conditions and needs to terminate the pregnancy, such as: malformed fetus, delayed fetal language development, miscarriage, poor placental function, overdue pregnancy, etc., the doctor will decide on the timing of induction of labor based on fetal monitoring, fetal movement conditions, and B-ultrasound of the pregnant woman's amniotic fluid, and use oxytocin during the induction of labor.

2. Inducing labor during delivery: If the pregnant mother has frequent uterine contractions during the delivery process and the amniotic fluid is discharged, but the baby is reluctant to come out, oxytocin can be used at this time.

3. Promote lactation after giving birth: During the lactation period, the mammary glands can secrete milk under the effect of oxytocin.

4. Activate blood circulation: After the injection of oxytocin, the uterine muscle layer gradually contracts under the effect of the drug. The contraction force closes the open blood vessels in the uterus, achieving the purpose of activating blood circulation.

Conditions for using oxytocin:

Generally, oxytocin is used mainly when the pregnant mother needs to terminate the pregnancy, such as in cases of amnionitis, placental abruption, gestational diabetes, kidney disease, or when there is a risk of the fetus surviving in the uterine cavity, delayed delivery, neonatal hemolysis, embryonic infertility, prolonged labor, frequent and uncoordinated uterine contractions, and other unexpected situations.

What effects does oxytocin have on the fetus?

Mothers should pay attention. Doctors emphasize that the use of oxytocin during labor may be problematic and may affect the fetus. However, if the oxytocin infusion rate is too fast or the drug is too much, it will cause tonic or contractile uterine contractions. Because the uterus continues to contract significantly without a ventricular phase or a very short ventricular phase, the descent of the fetus is blocked due to a narrow birth canal, an excessively large fetus, a transverse position of the fetus, etc., resulting in the lower segment of the uterus becoming thinner and thinner, and finally rupture, causing internal bleeding in the pregnant woman and intrauterine hypoxia in the fetus.

In addition, using too much oxytocin will induce uterine contractions. When the friction resistance of the pregnant woman's labor is not great, the entire labor process will not exceed 3 hours. This is called "premature labor" in medicine. Premature labor will cause problems such as postpartum infection and newborn fall because there is no time for disinfection and protection of the perineum. Secondly, if uterine contractions are frequent and last too long, it will also affect the blood circulation system of the embryo, causing stillbirth or neonatal asphyxia.