Coach Smith here with a plea to use accurate words to describe what we see
on day 1 and 2. Babies exposed to epidurals during labor are not sleepy.
They're DRUGGED. (YES, I'm SHOUTING! )

Sleepy babies wake up when they're hungry, and come to wide-awake states.
Drugged babies may not be fully wide-awake until the medications wear off.
Solid research documents that some drugs are still affecting the baby for 30
days postbirth - and that's when the researchers stopped measuring, not
necessarily when they acted normally.

If you have any doubt about the difference between sleepy and drugged, watch
videos of unmedicated babies after birth and compare those kids to the ones
born after 15-hour epidurals. Or talk to an adult who has taken Demerol or
some other narcotic pain-reliever, or to a nurse who has worked a post-op
unit. There's a world of difference. When my husband injured his back, the
ER doctor gave him one shot of Demerol. He (the husband, not the doc) was
completely "out of it" for the next 8-12 hours, and not fully tuned in for
over 48 hours afterward.

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre www.bflrc.com
6540 Cedarview Ct., Dayton, OH 45459-1214 USA
(937) 438-9458 email [log in to unmask]

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