Your correspondent John Crowhurst, commenting on the connection between impaired mother-child bonding and epidural anaesthesia, has mixed up unrelated issues (21 April, p 54).
It is true that analgesics can be immensely effective in women who have particular health issues that affect their ability to cope with pain. But these women are in a small minority.
The increase in the use of anaesthetic is linked more to the increase in induced births, which are associated with stronger contractions and more pain. Induced births are being scheduled for the convenience of medical staff rather than the mother and baby. Giving birth is not a pathological process but a natural one.
It is also true that even low doses of epidural painkillers affect the bonding process. Epidural anaesthesia reduces the cooperation between mother and baby that can sometimes happen during birth, which is not always recognised by medical staff. Long-term effects ...
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