The WHO gives greater prominence to the mother in the control of pain in childbirth
The Birth it is a process as beautiful as it is complicated. Many decisions must be made while the delivery lasts, who should take them? Although medical opinion must be taken into account, it can not be denied that the mother's vision at this time also has value. For this reason, the World Health Organization, WHO, gives greater prominence to the decisions of women in their new guidelines.
A total of 56 new suggestions that make up guidelines that aim to give more value to the opinion of the mother in terms of pain control in the Birth it means. The intention of the WHO is to prevent techniques such as the supply of oxytocin to cause dilation and that sometimes is not recommended as in most cases cause a bad experience in women.
Each birth is a world
The first thing that the WHO emphasizes in these guidelines is that each birth is a different case and that the standards must adapt to each case. Therefore, these guidelines must take into account the opinion of the mother to better assess the situation. An example is the speed of dilatation that has been taken into account until now but which is never a sign of a poor delivery if it does not advance in this way.
These new guidelines establish that once the neck of the uterus has dilated about five centimeters until the total opening of this, labor should not extend more than 12 hours in a first child and 10 in a second delivery. With these new guidelines it is also intended that the mother's opinion be used to decide when to proceed with interventions such as episiotomy or cesarean section.
This last type of intervention is carried out, in the opinion of WHO, repeatedly without taking into account each case individually. The vision that the mother can give in this regard has to be taken into account in deciding when some of these techniques are coming, whether it is the oxytocin supply or a surgical procedure. The experts of this agency also point out that it is important to assess the type of consequences that this type of decision may have for the mother.
WHO Guidelines
These are the guidelines that WHO gives to gynecologists and obstetricians that co-lead labor:
- Women undergoing labor conduction, particularly with oxytocin should not be left unattended.
- When oxytocin is used for driving, the speed of the intravenous infusion should be controlled closely. This precaution is extremely important in those contexts where gravity drips are used to administer the intravenous infusion.
- In cases where oxytocin is used, attention should be paid to the cold chain of this product.
- The delivery of labor should be carried out in care centers where there are appropriate resources for regular control of the fetal heart rate, treat the potential adverse effects of the procedure (for example: tocolysis for hyperstimulation), and manage the impossibility of achieve vaginal delivery, including by cesarean section.
Damián Montero
