These behaviors are repeated whenever a baby is born. Not just a human baby but every mammal baby has a repeatable, quantifiable process. What happens to this process when a mother is given an epidural or Pitocin during labor and should we care? Ethnographic Researcher, Dr. Brimdyr, PhD, CLC, and her team of obstetricians, lactation consultants, nurses, midwives and anesthesiologists wanted to find out. In their newly published study they divided sixty-three low risk mother/baby dyads into two groups; medicated and un-medicated. All the pairs were filmed during the first hour of life. Then the team of researchers did what ethnographers do; they studied the pairs to watch for clues. Ethnographers observe and analyze “symbols” that their target users use. In this case the predictable innate behaviors which initiate bonding and breastfeeding in human babies; a basic survival skill.
So what did they find out? Both IV Pitocin, the most used labor induction or augmentation drug, and Fentanyl, a drug in the typical epidural, significantly impact a baby’s abilities to move successfully through the normal first hour of life behaviors. The amount of medication and the length of time the mother was receiving these drugs were also found to be significant. The more mothers had, the longer they were on them, the greater the impact on the babies’ abilities. The worst case was the typical 2015 birth scenario in U.S. hospitals, long Pitocin induced labors with an epidural for pain management over an extended period. This study shows a direct correlation; a direct impact on skills considered basic survival behaviors.
|These mothers were given fentanyl via an epidural which we have been told for many years doesn't reach the baby. Still we can see a correlation between amount fentanyl and poor survival efforts by the babies.|
So should this be a cause for concern? We know these stages lay down the initial programming for successful breastfeeding. Other studies have observed a connection between moving through these steps in an hour and ultimately being a successful breastfeeding mother/baby dyad for at least 6 months. Exclusive breastmilk for the first 6 months is recognized by the World Health Organization and the American Pediatric Association as providing the best start for babies’ bodies and brains. Studies have now shown that even just one bottle of artificial human milk can alter the microbes reproducing in an infant’s gut. Cutting edge research is showing us our intestinal flora balance is tied to many diseases. Further consider other ways we may be inadvertently installing wrong programs in our children. We know babies are flooded with hormones as they leave the womb. One of these is adrenalin; fueling their drive to survive. It creates a hyper-alert state where sensory information of all kinds is heightened. This is initially needed but adrenalin is very draining to our systems. The system is designed to down regulate within an hour. Oxytocin and endorphins, the hormonal antidote to adrenalin, are released during suckling changing their body and brain chemistry. So what happens to an infant’s brain when it continues to be bathed in fear flight hormones beyond an hour? What happens when our babies’ bodies are wired to assume this level of adrenalin should be their baseline? What programs could we be installing for life?
Although this study was small the results are important and point in the direction for a much larger study to be done and a review of the true risk of these drugs to babies. For many years I have heard doctors, nurse midwives, labor nurses and anesthesiologists telling mothers there is very little risk to their babies. The only risk they perceive is in the here and now. Their responsibility for this new life ends soon after birth. Their risk assessment is grounded in a fear of doing nothing about other known risks, such as, going too long past the due date or a labor lasting too long. But when we consider the now known impacts to breastfeeding and breastfeeding’s impact to life-long health the true risk comes into clearer focus. Projected, possible risk, is like looking into a crystal ball. No one can know the true risk for any individual baby of either saying yes or no to Pitocin and or an epidural but at the very least mothers need to have good quality evidenced based information of the total picture to make their decisions.
"It is crucial for new parents to be aware of the risks of intrapartum drugs, and medical professionals have an ethical obligation to inform parents of such risks, especially when these drugs are so prevalent in Labor & Delivery. The implications of this study are huge."
Dr. Brimdyr, lead researcher
To see the study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/birt.12186/full