New guidelines released by two medical groups urge doctors to allow first time mothers to remain in labor longer in hopes of preventing unnecessary C-sections.
Recent studies have found the increase in C-sections has not resulted in significantly in better in outcomes for offspring or mothers, the Boston Globe reported.
"C-sections save lives [in certain situations]," Doctor Vincenzo Berghella, president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said in the news release. "But we also know that some can be safely prevented and that having multiple surgical deliveries raises the risk of placenta abnormalities, hysterectomies, and bladder and bowel injuries, making them dangerous for mothers and babies."
Nearly one in three women in the U.S. give birth via Cesarian sections, the Associated Press reported. Having one C-section increases the risk of needing one for the following pregnancy.
"Labor takes a little longer than we may have thought," Doctor Aaron Caughey, who co-authored the guidelines for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in the news release. Labor can last anywhere from six hours to two or three days.
A 2012 study found that one stage of labor takes about two and a half hours longer on average than it did in the 19602, this is because today's mothers tend to be older and weigh more. Epidurals are also believed to slow down labor.
The medical groups suggested not to order a C-section just because the first phase of labor is prolonged; not to consider women to be in "active labor" until their cervix is dilated six inches (medical experts once thought it was four); to allow women to push for three hours if it is their first child and they are able to, two hours if they have given birth before; and to consider forceps as a C-section alternative.
"They need to have a better understanding of what normal labor is," said Lamaze president Michele Ondeck said, the news release reported.
