Research and resources for perinatal professionals.
July 21, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
First reported from physicians in Ireland and Denmark, with an upwelling of more anecdotal reports from other countries, it appears that the number of babies who are born prematurely, (and most noticeably, very prematurely) has been significantly reduced. In the study that has yet to be peer-reviewed and is still in preprint, “Changes in premature birth rates during the Danish nationwide COVID-19 lockdown: a nationwide register-based prevalence proportion study” found that there were significantly less babies born prematurely during the COVID-19 lockdown than in the previous five years.
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January 23, 2020 | by: Henci Goer
What are we to make of a new Swedish trial in which women were allocated by chance to either routine induction at 41 weeks or expectant management until 42 weeks (Wennerholm 2019)? The trial was stopped midway through because it had already shown a statistically significant increase, meaning unlikely to be due to chance, in perinatal mortality in the expectant management arm of the trial, and routine induction hadn’t increased the cesarean rate. You may be thinking, “It has long been established that 41-week induction is the better strategy for just these reasons. The Swedish trial just adds to the pile of studies finding in its favor.”
January 10, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Research indicates that nighttime proximity increases breast/chestfeeding duration and inclusivity. Exclusively breast/chestfed children are less likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID). Health care providers have a responsibility to discuss how to bedshare safely in order to protect infants and help families recognize unsafe bedsharing conditions.
October 04, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
One of the valuable benefits for Lamaze International members is a subscription to Lamaze International's official journal - The Journal of Perinatal Education (JPE). The mission of the JPE is to promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth through education and advocacy. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles and evidence-based, practical resources that childbirth educators and other healthcare professionals can use to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their care or teaching to prepare expectant parents for birth.
September 05, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
A new study, “Intact cord resuscitation versus early cord clamping in the treatment of depressed newborn infants during the first 10 minutes of birth (Nepcord III) – a randomized clinical trial” found that the newborn’s oxygen saturation (Sp02) and APGAR scores were higher at several measured points after birth along with other benefits such as both initiation of breathing and respiration rate when a necessary resuscitation was done bedside with the cord intact on an infant who was not breathing at birth.
September 03, 2019 | by: Henci Goer, BA
The great difficulty of attempting to determine comparative perinatal and neonatal mortality with home vs. hospital birth is amassing a large enough dataset of appropriately designed studies. In their review, “Perinatal or neonatal mortality among women who intend at the onset of labour to give birth at home compared to women of low obstetrical risk who intend to give birth in hospital: A systematic review and meta-analyses,” Hutton & colleagues (2019) overcome these difficulties with an ingenious study selection and analysis strategy.
July 30, 2019 | by: Henci Goer, BA
“To VBAC or not to VBAC” continues to be the question. “Mode of delivery after a previous cesarean birth, and associated maternal and neonatal morbidity,” a recent analysis of Canadian national data between 2003 and 2014, compared maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity after planned vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC ) versus repeat cesarean and concluded (Young 2018): “Although absolute rates of adverse outcomes are low, attempted vaginal birth after cesarean delivery continues to be associated with higher relative rates of severe morbidity and mortality in mothers and infants.” However, things aren’t always as they appear to be at first glance. Let’s take a closer look.
June 28, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
This new research: Giving Voice to Mothers: A national survey of the experiences of care during and after pregnancy and childbirth in the US focused on the experiences of birthing women of color who were planning to birth out of the hospital, defined as “community births”. These community births were planned to occur in either a freestanding birth center or at home. The demographics of these two group (people of color and community births) are traditionally underrepresented in past research projects focused on personal experiences, such as the Listening to Mothers studies did.
May 21, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
With ever-increasing scrutiny on methods to improve maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, particularly for Black families and families of color, insurance companies, state Medicaid programs and other health care services funding programs all around the USA are exploring (and in some cases have already initiated) doula care as a covered benefit.
The research study reviewed today runs a theoretical model looking at both the cost-effectiveness and the cost savings when a nulliparous woman has professional labor support for their first birth and the impact on the second birth.
February 12, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
A new study was just released: Virtual Reality Analgesia in Labor: The VRAIL Pilot Study—A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial Suggesting Benefit of Immersive Virtual Reality Analgesia in Unmedicated Laboring Women that examined the impact of virtual reality on reducing pain in labor.
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