Epidural anesthesia is a type of pain relief given during childbirth or surgery. It involves injecting medicine into the space around the spinal cord, numbing the nerves and reducing pain sensations in a specific area of the body.
Full definition
You might also ask about the use
of epidural anesthesia, as it is also sometimes a requirement, even if there are no medications placed inside the tubing.
It is very difficult to state with certainty that there is an association
between epidural anesthesia and negative newborn feeding behavior.
Another type of medication is
epidural anesthesia which allows mom to feel only mild to moderate contraction intensity and pressure during labor and childbirth.
As I had requested on my birth plan, no hospital staff offered me any pain medication or
epidural anesthesia unless I asked for it.
Obviously, some mother / baby couplets sail through after giving birth with medication, particularly
epidural anesthesia without a hitch.
I don't understand why natural birth advocates haven't subjected the idea to the same scrutiny and suspicion they hold for other obstetrical developments of the same period,
like epidural anesthesia and Vitamin K shots.
Wisner's editorial is based on a new Chinese study that found women who had pain control with
epidural anesthesia during a vaginal delivery had a much lower risk for postpartum depression than women who didn't have the epidural.
C. M. Sepkoski et al., «The Effects of Maternal
Epidural Anesthesia on Neonatal Behavior During the First Month,» Dev Med Child Neurol 34, no. 12 (1992): 1072 — 1080.
The researchers injected either the antisense drug or a placebo into the study participants» spinal fluid — a 20 - minute procedure similar to those that
deliver epidural anesthesia to women in labor.
Some hospitals have epidurals only available at certain times, while other hospitals have 24 -
hour epidural anesthesia coverage.
There is some research that indicates altered newborn behavior, drowsiness, and disorganized suckling
after epidural anesthesia, but the jury is still out on whether or not the epidurals were truly to blame in these studies.
We know now that
epidural anesthesia increases the rate of posterior position at the time of birth from about 4 % (for women who don't choose an epidural in a university birth setting) up to about 13 % when an epidural is used (Lieberman, 2005).
Epidural anesthesia dramatically lowered mortality rates because prior to its advent, the only alternative for surgery was general anesthesia, and the only alternative for pain relief was systemic medication like twilight sleep.
Pain Control There are many options when it comes to managing pain during labor,
from epidural anesthesia to massage and relaxation through guided imagery.
However, the covariate factors are difficult to separate when looking
at epidural anesthesia and breastfeeding because, as the Cochrane Review concluded, there are other proxy reasons that may also contribute to neonatal health and the breastfeeding relationship.
«Our findings suggest that water birth is a reasonably safe option for low - risk women, especially when the risks associated with pharmacologic pain management,
like epidural anesthesia, are considered.»
For women who choose to formula feed this may not be of any consequence but for those women who are looking forward to breastfeeding and who have chosen this method of nourishment for their babies, the possible connection
between epidural anesthesia and any other avoidable barriers to breastfeeding are important to identify and resolve.
As many women are now opting to not
use epidural anesthesia or to at least delay it until later into labor, they are finding that the use of positions can help them stay much more comfortable in labor.
This is absolutely untrue — if there is a hospital where it applies, I think that hospital should change, but the only restrictions ever imposed on me, positionwise, while in a hospital to give birth were the positions required administration
of epidural anesthesia, and for surgery.
Generally,
epidural anesthesia is given on a continuous basis, according to Haydon.
A new study reports laboring women given control over
their epidural anesthesia resulted in a 30 percent reduction of the amount of anesthesia used and were «basically as comfortable» as women on a continuous dose.
Meaning:
epidural anesthesia may harm your baby.
Nurses are the primary care provider in hospital births and unfortunately are frequently under - staffed and managing several laboring women who commonly have high risk interventions such as pitocin augmentation and
epidural anesthesia.
Some women will choose to use
epidural anesthesia.
«mothers receiving both
epidural anesthesia and IV oxytocin represent the group most likely to cease breastfeeding within 1 month postpartum, while mothers receiving neither represent the lowest risk group»
Medications such as
an epidural anesthesia and others have their time and place in birth.
Decrease in the use of
epidural anesthesia.
Here, you'll receive either general, spinal, or
epidural anesthesia, while a surgeon stitches around the cervix to help prevent it from shortening and opening too early, causing preterm birth.
There have been a few studies on this ball when used in labor with women who have
epidural anesthesia.
Epidural anesthesia is the number one form of medicinal pain relief in labor and birth today.
Epidural anesthesia is the most common form of pain relief used in labor and birth today.
Epidural anesthesia is a type of regional anesthesia that allows a mother to be awake for the birth of her baby and comfortable.