Dear Friends:
    In my hospital work this week, 8 out of 13 mothers  had cesarean 
sections. There were several where the reasons were clear:   mom was fully dilated, 
and baby got tangled in the cord; a mother was  hypertensive and not responding 
to medication. Most were for reasons not truly  medical. Such as the woman 
told by the doctor that her pelvis was 'too narrow'.  She never even went into 
labor; this is akin to telling a flaccid man that he  won't get big enough to 
make a woman pregnant! (Both the pelvis and the baby are  shaped in labor to fit 
together, and almost always do, given time, patience, and  loving support.)
    Some were for 'failed induction' or 'failure to  progress'. One woman was 
told that her baby weighed over 10 pounds based on  ultrasound; the baby was 
actually 8 pounds. I have never seen a cesarean section  for 'macrosomia' be 
accurate; the women who are told that their babies are 'too  big' are all 
scared to labor, have the surgery, and WHOOPS, the baby is 2 pounds  smaller. There 
is no an apology from the doctor. 
    None were exclusively breastfeeding as the  baby went to the nursery for 
at least the first night.  Others got  bottles because 'there wasn't enough 
milk'.......funny how a baby that needs to  feed more gets a bottle instead of a 
breast.
    Not one woman I saw this week went into labor  spontaneously.
    Does no one read evidence? Does no one pay attention to  FDA warnings 
about induction and vacuum? It would seem not.
    warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct  Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human  Lactation
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com

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