Does epidural harm a child?
@roshnichaudhary (1160)
United States
6 responses
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
20 Apr 07
I don't think that there is any chance of harming the child by getting an epidural. It makes delivery so much easier on the mom which may take stress off the baby.
@eden32 (3973)
• United States
29 Apr 07
An epidural is anesthesia, which always carries risks for mom & baby. Also any intervention in birth can cause a chain reaction, leading to more interventions and whatever risks those actions carry. An epidural too early in labor can stall your progress,which can then lead to augmentation or C-section. An epidural too late in labor can fail to be effective for birth but still have effects on the baby's alertness after birth in turn causing the child to have a difficult time latching and eating.
Which is not to say that no woman should have an epidural. All expecting mothers should have access to information about all pain management and make educated decisions for her birth.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
29 Apr 07
I think that you just answered the question asked. It is great that you have such a wide knowledge on epidurals. After haveing 3 babies without one, I just knew that I wanted one when I had my 4th child. Luckily for me there were not problems and me and my baby were fine.
Thanks for the information:)
@keithandlisa (192)
• United States
21 Apr 07
I had an epidural with both of my sons without any complications. My first son had to have an emergency c-section as he was in distress after a long labor that was not progressing. As soon as I had the epidural, my son was in less distress and I felt much better as well.
1 person likes this
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
20 Apr 07
well, anything like that has risks, but the epidurals aren' harmful to the child. i haven't known anyone who went through labor without an epidural. in fact when my sister had her son she had medicine put into her epidural more times than i've ever seen lol. there are risk for you as far as getting an epidural, they will explain all them to you, but all of them are very very slim chance. with my second child i got what is called a spinal headache..which is very rare. it is caused by the hole in your spinal column not patching up like its supposed to. i had a bad headache for 2 weeks but i'm fine now.
@nykki1214 (19)
• United States
21 Apr 07
i dont know if it harms the child but i do know that after having 1 my back has never been the same.My doctor says its athritis in my back but i honestly believe that it has something to do with the epidural.
@sanyah1988 (306)
• United States
21 Apr 07
I do think at times it can be very risky because I think It should be natural like back in the old days but then again I can't tell a woman in pain to do it natural.
1 person likes this
@emma412 (1156)
• United States
21 Apr 07
As with any medication you take it can harm your child but the occurances are very rare. Think of all the people you know that have had epidurals, have their children been harmed by it? The biggest risk I was afraid of before I gave birth was having the epidural too early and stalling out delivery. The teacher for my prepared childbirth class said it's very common to stall out labor and have to have a c section if you have an epidural too early. Luckily I dialated very quickly and the epidural didn't harm my daughter.
