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In 1965, the rate of Cesarean Section (C-section) in the United States was 4.5%. In 2007, it was 31.8%. If that rate of increase isn’t shocking enough, a friend of mine who lives in Sarasota County FL, one of the wealthiest counties in the entire state, told me that the C-Section rate for that community currently stands at 46%!
How can this be? Nearly 1 in 2 babies born in Sarasota County was cut out of the Mother’s belly. The procedure is considered major abdominal surgery requiring weeks of convalescence. This instead of being born the simple way nature intended? A vaginal birth where Mom can literally get out of bed minutes after birth and take a shower!
How did this happen? It seems in a growing number of cases, elective Cesareans have become the norm. While C-section is a lifesaving procedure in some cases, using it to more conveniently schedule a birth is a decision fraught with potentially lifelong complications for the baby.
Dangers of Cesarean Birth
When a baby is born vaginally, exposure to the probiotics in the birth canal helps to colonize the baby’s intestines. This “seeds” the developing immune system for a lifetime of health. Babies born via emergency C-section especially if the bag of waters has already broken with labor underway for some time, do get at least some exposure to these helpful flora before surgical birth.
Elective (i.e., “sterile”) Cesareans where labor never starts provide no such opportunity for exposure. It is critical that a baby born in this manner get skin to skin contact with the mother immediately after birth. Immediate breastfeeding also is beneficial. Human breastmilk and colostrum “first” milk contain an abundance of these friendly bacterial strains to seed the gut properly.
Formula Feeding and Cesarean a Double Whammy to a Child’s Health
Babies born by elective C-section who are formula fed have the greatest risk to health as their guts are seeded with bacteria from the hospital environment, not Mom. In those situations, a homemade formula is critical as this provides probiotics and enzymes with every feeding much like nursing would. Note that donated breastmilk is almost always pasteurized and so does not confer this benefit.
The July 2009 issue of Acta Pediatrica found that babies born by C-section experienced changes to the DNA of their leukocytes (white blood cells). The extreme stress to babies from a “cold cut” Cesarean birth is thought to be related to these DNA changes. This experience has the potential to forever alter how the immune system responds to stimuli. Babies born vaginally do not experience such a stress shock. The vaginal birth process involves a gradual increase in stress response for the baby followed by a gradual decline says Hannah Dahlen, Vice President of the Australian College of Midwives.
This small study could help explain why children born by C-section suffer from a dramatic increase in the rates of diabetes, testicular cancer, leukemia, and asthma among other autoimmune disorders. Babies born by C-section have a 20% increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes, for example, than children born vaginally.
How to Avoid a Cesarean
It seems clear that protecting your child from developing autoimmune disease begins before labor even starts. Avoiding doctors who prefer elective C-sections and finding an out of the hospital birthing environment with a lay or nurse midwife can reduce a woman’s C-section rate from about 1 in 3 to around 5%. A hospital birth with a midwife attending has a C-section rate of about 10%.
It is also important to understand how to induce labor naturally and avoid epidurals as much as possible. Each of these interventions increases a woman’s odds of a Cesarean birth. Note: I realize there are some studies indicating that epidurals do not increase C-section risk. However, the studies that demonstrate a link are more compelling, in my opinion.
The health benefits to baby from allowing the birth process to unfold as nature intended reminds me of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. If you help the butterfly out of the cocoon, it dies. If you stand back and let it work its way out naturally, it lives. Same with a chick pecking its way out of an egg. Helping the chick out can make it very sick and even kill it. Letting it scratch and claw its way out and it lives.
Can’t we humans take our cues from nature?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
I just found your blog a few days ago but I love that you're not afraid to tackle the tough issues and just say it. I agree with everything I've read so far.
My daughter was born in a hospital, vaginally, but with drugs because I didn't know any better and they pushed me into it. My son was born at home and it was wonderful.
The WHO says that there is NO justification for any country to have a C-section rate over 10%. NONE. And yet ours hoovers around 40% these days. There are hospitals in my area where the C-section rate for first-time moms is between 60 – 80%! Truly horrifying.
As for the fear aspect, I remember my daughter's birth (hospital) as pain, confusion, fear. I remember my son's (home) as pressure, fatigue, amazement, beauty. I'd do it again at home tomorrow. I wish I could. I absolutely can't wait to get pregnant, go through another home birth, and have another child to love and watch grow (my youngest is 11 months today!! I can't believe he's so big already!). I don't know that I'd feel that way if I had to go to a hospital again.
I have become convince over the past 11 years that any request c-section because we have created an atmosphere of fear around birthing. It's no longer a natural thing that our bodies go through, as hard as it may be. It's a procedure. Many people are afraid of hospitals in general. To have a baby there would be down right frightening but necessary in those circumstances. They are a necessary evil. I am sure there is much more to it but these are my thoughts. I had a c-section with my 1st. I fought hard for my VBAC w/ the 2nd. Had a VBAC w/ my 3rd after transporting from home. I have had 4 home birth then. One of those I was just 5 weeks ago. I talk to my girls all the time about the privilege of being a woman and carrying babies. We talk about birthing and such. I don't want them to be afraid of this process. And to add to all that, I am working as quickly as I can toward a change in our diet so they have even better chances in the future.
That’s great.
It's probably not an issue for a lot of your readers, but one of the biggest things that leads to elective c-sections are women asking for them. The doctors can justifiy it in lots of ways if they know that the women are interested. Besides all of the stuff that you mention, the pure pressure in the vaginal canal helps push amniotic fluid out of the lungs of the baby. Babies that are born vaginally tend to have less breathing problems in the neonatal period than those born by c-section, elective or not.
I wanted to avoid a c-section. That meant I was pretty convinced I wanted to avoid an epidural. That meant I didn't want any pitocin as that increases the pain of contractions. At 25 weeks, when I explained to my OB that I didn't want pitocin, she responded that 90% of her patients "require" some pitocin. REALLY?? I felt trapped. Fortunately I found excellent midwives, switched my care at 26 weeks and delivered an 8 pound healthy boy at home. I never ever would have predicted I'd have my baby at home with midwives. Now I can't imagine having done it any other way. No drugs. No drama. Beautiful birth. He's 10 months old on Sunday, still breast feeding and HUGE! I wish more moms-to-be knew they had more options.
Nina makes a great point in her book. Babies derive much benefit from going through the birth process naturally even if the ending is an emergency C-section. As described in the blog, the stress on the baby is gradually increased this way so that the C-section itself is not so traumatic. Also, the baby gets exposure to the Mother's flora while in the birth canal especially if the waters have broken. A C-section from an emergency is not nearly as damaging to the baby as a "sterile" C-section where no labor occurs beforehand.
I really like Nina Planck's take in Real Food for Mother and Baby-she explains all the benefits of vaginal birth and how she had prepared for that and birthing at home, but in the end she has an emergency c section at the urging of her midwife. She does a good job explaining how c-sections should be used for emergencies, not standard procedure.
Sally's point about the pelvis being malformed and causing more C-sections is very well taken. I myself have a pelvis that is rather small, but the work of dedicated midwives allowed me to have 3 vaginal births instead of 3 C-sections. Midwives will go above and beyond for their clients to have a natural birth whereas in the hospital, any difficulties and the woman is wheeled in for a C-section, which is why I so strongly recommend that women seek an out of hospital birthing environment to lower their C-section risk.
Hi Christy, sounds like you are doing everything you can! Your children are so very lucky to have an alert Mom such as youself!
In the seminar that Sally Fallon gave at Bastyr University the week before last, she mentioned that at least one cause of the current epidemic in C-section births may be due to deformities in the pelvic opening from the industrial diet consumed by the woman's parents. This may mean that we will need a major shift in diet a generation ahead to restore the natural balance of nature. She does not blame doctors for doing C-sections when there is increased risk for mothers and infants. Clearly, natural birth and V-back are better. Women (and doctors) electing C-section for the sake of convenience should be aware of the consequences. This post would be very helpful for them in such cases.
I had a c-section before I knew better and then went on to have 2 more being too chicken to try a v-bac. Two of my babies were nursed for the first two days but one of them went directly to formula. Do you have any info on what to do after a c-section to restore good health to our children? We already eat a whole foods diet, very little grain, lots of healthy fat. My youngest two children were on the Gaps diet for a year. They also drink lots of kefir. Anything else we could be doing? Thanks so much!