Nervous dads-to-be worsen cesarean pain
Source: Psychosomatic Medicine 2005; Not yet available online
Examining the impact of psychosocial factors in the mother and birthing
partner on maternal fear and pain during and after delivery.
The presence of a nervous father at a cesarean delivery can stress his
partner, leading to higher levels of post-operative pain, UK research suggests.
This pain could, in turn, have negative effects on a woman's recovery, as
well as on her ability to breast feed and bond with her child, warn Dr Edmund
Keogh, from the University of Bath, and colleagues.
To combat the problem, birthing partners could be given help to prepare for
cesarean births, both in antenatal classes and prior to surgery, the team
suggests.
For the research, 65 pregnant women booked to undergo an "awake" elective
cesarean and their birthing partners were questioned about their fears,
expectations and experiences before, during, and after the procedure.
Women who had negative expectations prior to the operation experienced most
fear during the procedure, which resulted in greater post-operative pain.
Further analysis showed that the women's sensitivity to anxiety mediated the
relationship between her negative expectations and fear, whereas the fear of the
birthing partner mediated the association between maternal fear and
postoperative pain.
As birthing partners can improve the experience of women giving birth, Dr
Keogh suggested: "Rather than removing them from the operating theatre
altogether, it would be better to target the emotional well-being of the birth
partner to help reduce the anxiety and fear experienced by the mother."
Posted: 27 January 2006
Kathleen Fallon Pasakarnis, M.Ed. IBCLC
Nurturing Family Lactation and Parenting Services
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|