Miriam asks:
>
>As with all the numerical data that have been cited - lab tests, fundal
>height, etc. - if they are used as one additional piece of data in the whole
>clinical picture, why reject them?

I would never say 'never'  to something that may in some individual cases
be the very thing to help an individual mother....but generally speaking,
all interventions risk medicalising and complicating  a process that may
work best with minimum  intervention...even when it is not working,
correcting it may be best done with minimum intervention. You also risk
disempowering a woman and increasing her anxiety,  not to mention
increasing the financial cost (no one's time, and no one's scales, are
free). When making any intervention, you have to be sure of what you're
looking for, that the norms you will compare your measurement to are
genuine, and that you cannot reach the same point without intervening.

I will really try to stay silent on this topic now for a bit, I promise!

Thanks for everyone's contribution  - it's  a good chance to really think
about what we think and do.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne

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