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Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

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Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#51
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The central bank prints money (partially offset by tax). Some of that money could go to basic medical care like this, as it does in most other countries.

We're currently seeing exactly what happens when the central bank money printer goes into overdrive, which is rising inflation. Maybe we shouldn't be encouraging that.

Taxation funded healthcare seems to work pretty well. It allows you to avoid the situation where individuals pay significantly more due to bad luck with their health. Plus you get to cut out the insurance companies' cut completely.

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have to pay to hold your newborn in the US? Land of the free indeed

You pay for a nurse or aide to be ready to intervene if there’s an issue in a post-caesarean situation. In our case, the hospital my wife delivered in pushed skin to skin heavily, but after a minute or two, I ended up holding our son, skin to skin for the next 10-15 minutes becuase their policy didn’t allow mom to hold the baby while they sutured and did their thing. Once they were done in the OR, back to mom. Usuall…

> You pay for a nurse or aide to be ready to intervene if there’s an issue in a post-caesarean situation.

We had a pediatrician in the room (which is also a perfectly opportunistic for the ob/gyn to score a referral). OR theater was main OB/GYN (which we chose), his assistant (also ob/gyn, younger and oddly published), anesthesiologist, instruments clerk and pediatrician. I don't think we had a nurse at all.

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#53

Interesting to read this here. When my son was born (naturally, normal weight, fully healthy, and around expected due date), the midwife in Denmark had educated us about the Danish way of handling the birth - as soon as the baby comes out, they literally put the baby on mom’s chest, and leave us(parents, and baby) alone in the room for about an hour. Nothing needs to be done other than the baby being in care of it’s…

It goes like this in the Netherlands as well. Typically with only a midwife, and a nurse if you want pain reduction medication because the midwife is not allowed to handle that. The exception is if there are medical indications like an early birth (I think before week 36), then a doctor would be present from the start.

Home births are a choice and a lot of people make that choice because it is a less stressful environment. We were told that the Netherlands has an above average amount of home births compared to the rest of Europe.

However for my daughter we were offered an even nicer option: There are special "non medical delivery" rooms in the hospitals around here. It looks and feels much more homely than a hospital room, has some normal chairs in it, the walls aren't white, it has a nice bathroom. You go there with your midwife that you already know from all the checkups. The process is like you describe it in Denmark, they indeed give you a lot of time to relax before and after.

But there is one thing different from home birth: It is right across the hallway from the medical delivery rooms, with full baby-ICU capabilities less than 10 seconds away and a red alarm button to press when you need medical help immediately. That was for us a comfortable feeling, because if things don't go right the natural way, you really don't want to be 15 minutes away from the hospital by ambulance.

Luckily we didn't need any of it, but the fact that it's there when needed feels safe.

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#54
imho: correction of the side effects of "evidence-based medicine"

related-satire:

"Satirical paper puts evidence-based medicine in the spotlight"

"A spoof paper about mothers kissing their children’s ‘boo-boos’ draws attention on social media."

https://www.nature.com/news/satirical-paper-puts-evidence-ba...

"The paper’s underlying message is in line with the journal’s philosophy, says Miles, who is also senior vice-president of the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare in London and Madrid. In medicine, he notes, scientific research is only one type of knowledge, which must sit alongside other forms, such as professional medical experience, and not above them. “Over-reliance on science is a very dangerous thing,” Miles says. Next month, the journal will publish another article unpacking the lessons contained in the satirical paper, he adds."

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have to pay to hold your newborn in the US? Land of the free indeed

Sure https://www.vox.com/2016/10/4/13160624/medical-bills-birth-d... "Skin to Skin after C-Sec" $39.95 [C-Sec here means Caesarean section, a relatively safe surgical procedure to delivery a baby via an incision in the mother's abdomen. Although mostly safe, and certainly preferable to situations where vaginal delivery would incur an undue risk to mother or baby, C-Section is undesirable because it increases the rate…

I think the whole rhetoric about C-sections needs to be adjusted for a time where many older women are having babies. There's a kind of narrative about optimal pregnancy/childbirth/early care that seems to make sense for 27-year-olds who will sneeze and squeeze out their baby and shoot milk at the thought of their baby. But that's increasingly not the norm.

More generally: declining birth rates are one of our top-ten societal problems if we think 50-100 years ahead; part of addressing it is changing the conversation around pregnancy in one's late 30s and even early 40s. From watching TV shows it would seem by age 35 your shot is shot.

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#56
Home birth, natural, c-sect, whatever works for you to have a happy healthy baby.

We had c-sect under GA, as my wife was scared of birth and c-sect, so we opted for GA. So there wasn’t even an option for skin to skin, or me to even be in the room during the procedure.

But our daughter came out happy and healthy. Wouldn’t change a thing.

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#58

Interesting to read this here. When my son was born (naturally, normal weight, fully healthy, and around expected due date), the midwife in Denmark had educated us about the Danish way of handling the birth - as soon as the baby comes out, they literally put the baby on mom’s chest, and leave us(parents, and baby) alone in the room for about an hour. Nothing needs to be done other than the baby being in care of it’s…

> 1. Childbirth is handled by midwives (Jordemothers) instead of doctors. Doctors are brought only when medication or any treatment is necessary.

This is perfectly rational in the context of publicly-funded healthcare; for many mothers (younger and in optimal health) pregnancy has little complications. On the other hand, we really benefited from high-intensity pre-natal care with frequent ultrasounds, as we were able to increase our kid's chances of survival with lung development-accelerating steroids.

What I mean is that it's a wonderful cost-saving tactic which doesn't imply better care. In Brazil we have MDs handling sore throats in overloaded ERs, and it might be more cost-effective to have teams of RNs in a more distributed proactive fashion. I still can't think of a case where, individually, I would prefer a RN rather than a MD handling my sore throat. Billionaires might even have MDs clipping their toenails to care for fungi.

Re: Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances

#60

Interesting to read this here. When my son was born (naturally, normal weight, fully healthy, and around expected due date), the midwife in Denmark had educated us about the Danish way of handling the birth - as soon as the baby comes out, they literally put the baby on mom’s chest, and leave us(parents, and baby) alone in the room for about an hour. Nothing needs to be done other than the baby being in care of it’s…

I had a similar experience in the US with a large private healthcare provider at a large regional hospital. They did some quick health checks but then quickly left the baby with my wife and I for skin-to-skin time. This was planned ahead of time and encouraged by the nurses and doctors.

I’m not sure if it’s become commonplace across the country but our care was impeccable and the nurses and doctors were happy to recommend and support as natural a birth as possible.

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