birth in the netherlands

[umami_mommy]

i don't know if anyone posted this already:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=92641635

it's a story on universal health care, but it talks about birth norms in the netherlands... i think it's a well done story.

[dogmom327]

When I was planning my home birth, the only person who didn't even blink was a guy in my grad program from the Netherlands. My good friend was telling him what I was planning and he didn't react at all. So she went on to point out that I might possibly be nuts (no pain meds) and he just responded that lots of babies are born at home...no big deal :

[applejuice]

The Netherlands does not have the outstanding infant mortality rate it used to have. The Netherlands now ranks 18th on the UN list, 25th on the CIA list, and 24th on the Geography IQ list. Some experts are blaming the Netherlander tradition of homebirth, which I do not believe. The U.S. ranks 37th.

One of the problems is the Netherlands National Health Care system which does not require doctors to work at night in the maternity ward. Strange. That is what I was able to turn up in my research which I am doing now.

Top ten projected for 2008:

Singapore
Sweden
Japan
Hong Kong
Iceland
France
Finland
Norway
Malta
Czech Republic

[kxsiven]

Background: Infant mortality of ethnic minorities in The Netherlands (10% of the population) is twice as high as in the indigenous Dutch population. Causes of death are different for the diverse migrant groups.
Results: There was a four to five times higher proportion of hereditary causes of death in the Moroccan and Turkish population, compared with the Surinamese/Antillians and indigenous Dutch.
Conclusions: This might be explained by a high inbreeding coefficient as three-quarters of the marriage partners are recruited from the home villages and between a quarter and a third of these marriages are between first cousins. Health promotion activities in The Netherlands have not been successful so far. Preconception genetic counselling might help in reducing these differences.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/conten...a?format=print

[Sileree]

Originally Posted by applejuice

The Netherlands does not have the outstanding infant mortality rate it used to have. The Netherlands now ranks 18th on the UN list, 25th on the CIA list, and 24th on the Geography IQ list. Some experts are blaming the Netherlander tradition of homebirth, which I do not believe. The U.S. ranks 37th.

I agree. Certainly thirty years ago 60 or 65% of births took place at home, and now its only what, 35%? Yet the death rate is going up, not down.

[Sileree]

I also wanted to share this link, in which a Dutch women shares her experiences with the maternity health care there:

http://www.ahd.tudelft.nl/~jerry/jw2...rtality%20rate

[annanicole]

I want to play the devils advocate here. I was looking at the list of safest places to give birth and Japan and singapore are consistantly at the very very top of the lists. And they HUGELY discourage homebirths.

What are they doing differently in the hospitals that other countries are not doing to keep those kidn of numbers?

[Jana315]

I believe that Japan has majority of midwife attended hospital births, but I'm not sure about Singapore - interesting conversation though....

Jana

[applejuice]

Answering the devil's advocate, remember these are countries that have low birth rates, a government health plan, and incorporate much in the way of what we Westerners call "alternative medicine" as acupuncture, acupressure, herbs, and baths instead of drugs. That is my opinion. Remember that although there may be plenty of people per square mile in Japan, i.e., there is real population density, one should know that the populations are stable and the government health service is reliable and self-checking. There is a lot of follow-up in the maternity cases and I am guessing family life is more stable.

All of which leads to better maternal/child outcomes.

[Sileree]

Originally Posted by Jana315

I believe that Japan has majority of midwife attended hospital births, but I'm not sure about Singapore - interesting conversation though....

Jana

I've heard of that too.

[annanicole]

Originally Posted by applejuice

Answering the devil's advocate, remember these are countries that have low birth rates, a government health plan, and incorporate much in the way of what we Westerners call "alternative medicine" as acupuncture, acupressure, herbs, and baths instead of drugs. That is my opinion. Remember that although there may be plenty of people per square mile in Japan, i.e., there is real population density, one should know that the populations are stable and the government health service is reliable and self-checking. There is a lot of follow-up in the maternity cases and I am guessing family life is more stable.

All of which leads to better maternal/child outcomes.

It would be interesting to see studies actually documenting what they are attributing their differences too. I didn't realize Japan and singapore had low birth rates.

but it is interesting none the less. It seems other then China, the far eastern regions all seem to do very well despite extreme economic diversity.

[applejuice]

Always remember that this all depends on reliable, uniform reporting which is sometimes a huge variable.

[skjslp]

Funny, I had my first in the Netherlands and ended up with a missed breech ( I believe she was that way for at least 2 months before birth) and a c-section. My doc chuckled at my birth plan and told me my daughters head was engaged 24 hours before my water broke. A resident disagreed but was poo-pooed she whispered apologies to me on rounds later. That being said, they are strong supporters of vbac and are resistant to repeat c-sections without cause. My girlfriend wanted one and could not get one. They do less testing than in the US. My mistake was OB care. Many of my requests were met with no's do to "hopsital policy". There were some great OB's there and they do see birth as natural but I think now that more dutch women are giving birth in hospitals and the population is more diverse you are seeing more medicalized birth and more problems. I do take full responsibility for my first birth outcome though. I was very naive and thought natural birth would be easy in The Netherlands and did not do enough research and advocating for myself. Not this time though!