Dr. Komarovsky about childbirth

Women who are preparing to become mothers usually have a lot of questions about the upcoming delivery. Often they address them to doctors who are fully trusted. One of these doctors is a pediatrician, Candidate of Medical Sciences Yevgeny Komarovsky. He pays a lot of attention to births in his books and television programs, since the health of a baby largely depends on how the delivery will take place.

In preparation for childbirth, according to the doctor, a woman should pay special attention. First of all, it is a question of psychological preparation. A woman should be calm, balanced, trust doctors and believe only in the best. But psychological training alone is not enough, it is necessary to foresee various situations and not to forget to take everything you need.

Komarovsky as the necessary things leads the following:

• documents (passport, medical policy, exchange card from the antenatal clinic, as well as the necessary certificates confirming that the husband is healthy if partnership births are planned);
• notebook and pen;
• phone with charger;
• any book (to have something to read).

For the future mother will need the following things:

• washable slippers;
• two nightgowns;
• disposable pants;
• non-woolen socks;
• nursing bras;
• disposable diapers;
• nipple cracking cream, baby cream.

For a child, Komarovsky recommends taking such a set:

• diapers for newborns;
• 3-4 thin diapers;
• 2-3 flannel diapers;
• 2 caps;
• sliders and undershirts (in a small amount and provided that the rules of stay in this hospital allow it);
• powder and baby cream.

It is not necessary to build a collection bag in the maternity hospital in a big problem. Enough minimum set, the main thing is that the bag should be collected in advance, it is better a couple of weeks before giving birth, because at what point the child can “ask” outside, it is difficult to predict. It will be good if the bag with things from 37-38 weeks of pregnancy will be at the threshold of the apartment, just in case.

Yevgeny Komarovsky considers positive changes in recent years, when an alternative to state maternity hospitals appeared. Women now have the full right to choose where to give birth to a child - in a regular maternity hospital, in it, but in a paid ward and under a service contract, in a paid maternity hospital or a large perinatal center.

Joint birth now does not represent a problem: the doctors agree to let the future father in, however, provided that he passes all the necessary tests in advance and thus proves that he is completely healthy and cannot be a source of infection.

Cohabitation with the child must also be differentiated. If you are told in the maternity hospital that only mother and child wards are provided, do not be in a hurry to rejoice: the state after childbirth can be severe, postpartum depression can begin and in such a situation it will be difficult for a woman to care for her child, who within a few hours they will bring it, put it in a crib and entrust it to its full care.

Today, pregnant women get maternity certificates when they go on maternity leave. This document allows you to choose any obstetric institution (except private).A woman has a lot of time to get interested in various maternity hospitals and perinatal centers, read reviews, talk with doctors and patients, find out everything that interests. What you need to know:

• how many mothers with children in the same ward (the smaller, the better for all);
• whether there is a possibility of both separate and joint stay (will they take the child to the children's department if the woman feels unwell or just wants to sleep);
• can her husband and close relatives visit her;
• is there a possibility of joint delivery?
• what qualifications do doctors have;
• Is there a well-equipped reanimation for newborns in the maternity hospital?
• what sanitary conditions for women in labor are created (showers, toilets - in the ward or in a single copy on the whole floor).

If the answers fully satisfy your curiosity and meet your expectations, feel free to go to the chosen obstetric institution and sign the exchange card with the head of the medical office.

Komarovsky advises not to argue with the doctors on every occasion, not to cite as an example the read articles, but to listen less to what they say around. Difficult medical terms, terrible stories performed by neighbors in the ward should not take the woman out of balance. Calmness - the ability to make the most important thing for a child - to preserve breast milk.

Evgeny Olegovich advises the state of the breast and the establishment of lactation to devote as much free time as possible. The sooner a newborn baby is attached to the breast, the better for him, because his immunity will get stronger from the first hours of his life when he gets into the body of maternal colostrum.

Do not seek out newborn diseases that are not. If the child is not immediately attached to the breast in the delivery room, it’s not necessary to think that - most likely, there is no on-duty neonatologist so that he can make a decision about the attachment (if birth occurred at night), or the child needs a preliminary diagnosis.

If the child on the second or third day is yellowed, this is also not a reason for experiencing, the physiological jaundice of newborns is a widespread phenomenon. Too much sleep? Well, you are lucky and the baby is calm. Sleeping a little? Also nothing pathological, just a child restless, which also happens quite often.

It is clear that a woman’s desire to agree with the doctor in advance, to “stimulate” him with a certain sum of money. But only here the results of contractual birth, according to Komarovsky, can be quite deplorable. A doctor who, by agreement, must accept childbirth, there is no reason to come home from off-duty and take the baby. Therefore, it will be more convenient for him to put the pregnant woman in hospital in advance, and on the day of his immediate duty to apply stimulation of labor activity.

Very often, in this case, childbirth does not go as expected. Yevgeny Olegovich claims that nature does not tolerate violence, and only the child himself knows at what point he is born the best. Forced labor is not at the request of the child, but by the will of the “contractual” doctor often ends up with weakness of labor forces, a long anhydrous period, fetal hypoxia, and birth injuries. Should I carry a baby, eat right and take vitamins, then to destroy his health with such “contractual” childbirth?

Yevgeny Komarovsky argues that the cesarean section itself is no worse and no better than normal delivery through the natural reproductive tract.If the doctor insists on caesarean section, then he has good reason.

Another issue - the general practice in a particular hospital. There are such obstetric facilities in which every second expectant mother is sent to the operating room simply because it is easier to perform a cesarean than to give birth. Recognizing such maternity hospitals is quite easy from reviews and official statistics in the regional Ministry of Health. Just compare the ratio of natural childbirth with the number of cesarean sections.

If health allows, it is best to give birth naturally. It is indisputable. But if it so happened that a cesarean section was performed, do not worry and forbid yourself to think about the second or third child.

Natural childbirth after cesarean is quite possible, however, will have to try to find a doctor who will undertake to conduct such childbirth.

After two cesarean sections, vaginal birth is usually not done, the risk of rupture of the uterus along the scar is too great, but this is not a reason to refuse to give birth to children. Today in Russia, they successfully nurture and give birth by caesarean section of not only one, but also two, three or even four children. And in European clinics, without a panic, hysterics make both the fifth and sixth cesarean sections (Victoria Beckham is a clear example of this).

Partner labor is voluntary, says Yevgeny Komarovsky. You can treat them differently. On the one hand, it is the unity of spouses, common aspirations, which is commendable. On the other hand, instead of helping a woman in labor in the delivery room, doctors often begin to give first aid to a future father who has lost consciousness. It does not add optimism to either the pregnant woman or the medical staff.

According to Komarovsky, joint childbirth is a serious test for the feelings of the spouses. It often happens that after a joint stay in the birth room with all the anatomical and physiological details of the man lose their sexual interest in his wife and, alas, they can do nothing about it. Such consequences for the benefit of the family and the born child will not go. Therefore, women need to think carefully before putting their family life at such risk.

Forcing and persuading a man to attend the birth of his wife is not worth it. If he does not want or is afraid, it does not make him less courageous and does not diminish his love for his spouse and unborn child. If the head of the family himself is called to “cheer up” for the spouse in the delivery room, you should not hinder him. From the point of view of medicine, partner childbirth is neither helpful nor harmful, therefore the doctor does not seek to recommend them, but does not try to discourage them from them either.

On the Internet, there are a lot of articles and results of dubious scientific studies that claim that children born by caesarean section are more painful, less active, they are harder to learn and grow up weak. Yevgeny Komarovsky argues that this is nothing more than speculation, far from science and medicine.

With adequate care during the first year of life, hardening and proper nutrition, the health of a child born through a cesarean section is no different from the health of a child born by mother alone.

There is no such thing as a “late delivery” in medicine. There is no single age at which childbirth would be considered late. In some countries, childbirth at 20 is considered late, and in some women, far beyond 40, give birth and feel completely happy and contented. It all depends on the country and its Ministry of Health.

In Russia, the reproductive age is considered to be the age before menopause. On average, this age lasts up to 42-44 years.In the people of all who are over 36 years old, they are automatically considered to be late homogenous.

In the very birth after 40 years There is nothing wrong or dangerous. They differ little from childbirth at a younger age. If a woman’s health is already undermined by chronic illnesses, it’s wiser to agree to a planned cesarean section than to insist on natural childbirth.

Childbirth in adulthood is dangerous only because a child with an older mother increases the risk of being born with congenital chromosomal abnormalities, this is due to the aging of the parents' sex cells, with a decrease in their quality. But prenatal diagnosis allows to detect such cases even during pregnancy. And because a woman needs to think not about the fact that she gives birth late, but about the need to pay special attention to prenatal prenatal diagnosis.

Visiting courses or schools for pregnant women during antenatal clinics, Yevgeny Komarovsky finds it very useful, especially for those who are going to give birth to their first child. Such activities help a woman to understand well what awaits her in childbirth, what pains will be and how to behave in the delivery room, how to ensure proper care of the baby in the first days after his birth.

In addition, the future mother will find like-minded people on such courses, who with genuine interest will listen to the everyday problems and joys of a pregnant woman, understandable only the same as she is to future mothers.

About what Dr. Komarovsky thinks about preparing for childbirth, see the following video.