MamaRabbit
04-29-2008, 09:12 AM
The Labor Market (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1724018-1,00.html)
Interesting article about the rise of C-sections in Asia. Here's a quote regarding Thailand....
In Thailand, the pleas of natural-birth advocates do not find a large audience. "It's like pushing a stone uphill," says veteran campaigner Dr. Tanit Habanananda of the Childbirth and Breastfeeding Foundation of Thailand. "We're frustrated. It's very easy to get a C-section in Thailand. We have some colleagues at hospitals trying to change things but it's very hard." His spouse, Dr. Melanie Habanananda, adds: "If you use the term 'natural birth' here, people think it means you have to go sit in a paddy field to have your baby." Cesareans, she says, "have become very fashionable, especially among middle-class women" A third of the babies at Bangkok's private Samitivej Hospital, for instance, are delivered by C-sections, even though its birth unit was set up by Dr. Tanit Habanananda specifically to promote natural childbirth. (Those babies are also almost entirely born to Thai mothers. The foreign women who make up a large portion of Samitivej's admissions prefer to try for natural birth, says Dr Boonsaeng Wuttihpan, head of Samitivej's birth unit, who adds that the hospital remains very committed to promoting nonsurgical delivery.)
In general terms, the medical establishment comes in for a hard time from natural-childbirth advocates, many of whom wrap their arguments in the valence of feminism — speaking of doctors systematically reducing women's belief in their ability to give natural birth, with mothers lined up, strapped down and sliced open like so many units of easy revenue.
"I blame the obstetricians," says Dr. Melanie Habanananda, who is critical of both male and female obstetricians. "They don't give women confidence in their bodies ... They create an environment of fear around birth; it's terribly sad." In Taiwan, Kuo Su-chen, a professor in the nurse-midwifery department of the National Taipei College of Nursing, says that C-sections are common because "doctors have no patience. Most doctors want to end the birth quickly."
FYI. I've talked quite a bit with Dr. Tanit. He's an amazing man. He practices the midwifery model of care. In his days of busy practice, his C/S rate was less than 7%. He does not catch many babies anymore because he's basically retired (other than for those who twist his arm into attending!!) and spends 6mo a year in the UK. I attended a waterbirth talk of his last year and he said "obstetrics is the least evidence-based practice of medicine." WOW. Those in Bangkok who want to hear him should go to the waterbirth talk this Thursday May 1st. (PM me for details).
Interesting article about the rise of C-sections in Asia. Here's a quote regarding Thailand....
In Thailand, the pleas of natural-birth advocates do not find a large audience. "It's like pushing a stone uphill," says veteran campaigner Dr. Tanit Habanananda of the Childbirth and Breastfeeding Foundation of Thailand. "We're frustrated. It's very easy to get a C-section in Thailand. We have some colleagues at hospitals trying to change things but it's very hard." His spouse, Dr. Melanie Habanananda, adds: "If you use the term 'natural birth' here, people think it means you have to go sit in a paddy field to have your baby." Cesareans, she says, "have become very fashionable, especially among middle-class women" A third of the babies at Bangkok's private Samitivej Hospital, for instance, are delivered by C-sections, even though its birth unit was set up by Dr. Tanit Habanananda specifically to promote natural childbirth. (Those babies are also almost entirely born to Thai mothers. The foreign women who make up a large portion of Samitivej's admissions prefer to try for natural birth, says Dr Boonsaeng Wuttihpan, head of Samitivej's birth unit, who adds that the hospital remains very committed to promoting nonsurgical delivery.)
In general terms, the medical establishment comes in for a hard time from natural-childbirth advocates, many of whom wrap their arguments in the valence of feminism — speaking of doctors systematically reducing women's belief in their ability to give natural birth, with mothers lined up, strapped down and sliced open like so many units of easy revenue.
"I blame the obstetricians," says Dr. Melanie Habanananda, who is critical of both male and female obstetricians. "They don't give women confidence in their bodies ... They create an environment of fear around birth; it's terribly sad." In Taiwan, Kuo Su-chen, a professor in the nurse-midwifery department of the National Taipei College of Nursing, says that C-sections are common because "doctors have no patience. Most doctors want to end the birth quickly."
FYI. I've talked quite a bit with Dr. Tanit. He's an amazing man. He practices the midwifery model of care. In his days of busy practice, his C/S rate was less than 7%. He does not catch many babies anymore because he's basically retired (other than for those who twist his arm into attending!!) and spends 6mo a year in the UK. I attended a waterbirth talk of his last year and he said "obstetrics is the least evidence-based practice of medicine." WOW. Those in Bangkok who want to hear him should go to the waterbirth talk this Thursday May 1st. (PM me for details).