Nancy mentioned that "the increased risk of respiratory problems is negated by having the woman go into labor spontaneously first, then doing the C-S". I believe this would only partially reduce the risk. Although there is less risk of hyaline membrane disease (sorry, I know there's a newer name for this condition, but I can't think of it tonight), there is increased risk of fluid in the lungs with a C-section. This is because, during vaginal birth, as the baby squeezes through the birth canal, the fluid is squeezed out of the lungs. Babies born by C-section miss this very important advantage to the health of their lungs. A close family member had two babies by C-section. Both babies had fluid in the lungs which necessitated the baby staying in the NICU, one for 36 hrs, one for 48 hrs. Mom didn't get to even see the first baby for 24 hours. Eventually, she was able to establish good breastfeeding at breast with both babies, but she had breastfeeding difficulties to work through with each of the babies that probably wouldn't have been in the picture if separation due to NICU stays had not been necessary. One of the local children's hospitals here is even warning mothers who have had C-section babies to be very watchful with the babies. The hospital is telling these mothers that their babies have an increased risk in the first 8 years of developing asthma because the excess fluid they were born with does not all completely leave the lungs after a C-section, even when the babies have spent time in NICU on oxygen after the birth. This was very surprising to me. Dee Dee Kassing, BS, MLS, IBCLC, RLC Collinsville, Illinois, in central USA *********************************************** 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