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Home Birth

Vacuum Birth – Side Effects, Risks and Benefits

by Sam McCulloch Dip CBEd
Last updated June 11, 2020
Reading Time: 5 min
vacuum birth risks

Vacuum Birth – Risks and Benefits

You might have heard of assisted birth and wondered what it was. An assisted birth is when your baby needs some help being born, right towards the end, usually during the pushing stage of labour. The two most common methods of assisted birth are forceps and vacuum extraction (also known as ventouse). This article is about the risks and benefits of vacuum birth.

A vacuum or ventouse is an instrument that’s like a suction cup. The soft plastic cup is attached to the baby’s head with suction, and the care provider uses a handle on the cup to move the baby down the birth canal.

Why Would I Need a Vacuum Assisted Birth?

Ventouse births are used for a number of reasons. The most common reason is when the baby has become distressed and is close enough to birth that a ventouse can speed up the process. During normal labour, it can take an hour or more for a woman to push out her baby without any assistance. If there’s a need for the baby to be born in a matter of minutes, a vacuum assisted birth might be the solution.

Reasons for a ventouse assisted birth include:

  • Pushing for several hours after dilation is complete
  • Being exhausted from pushing
  • Baby is showing signs of distress and might need to be born more quickly than the mother can push
  • Medical reasons that make pushing risky
  • Mother can’t push effectively due to a medical condition, epidural or spinal block
  • Time restrictions on pushing, based on hospital policy, or care provider preference
  • Baby’s head isn’t in the optimal position for birth.

If a vacuum assisted birth is suggested, your care provider needs to assess whether your baby is low enough, and close to being born. If the baby’s head is still too high, a c-section will be recommended.

How Is A Vacuum Assisted Birth Performed?

If your care provider has assessed you and determined the baby is low enough for an attempt at vacuum extraction, you’ll be given an anaesthetic for pain relief. This can be either via an epidural, or locally inserted into the vagina. Depending on the situation, your doctor might perform an episiotomy, although this procedure is becoming less common with vacuum assisted birth.

You’ll need to lie on your back, or slightly inclined, with legs up in stirrups or special supports. This allows your healthcare provider to assess baby’s position and place the vacuum cup.

The vacuum cup is then placed on your baby’s head, and suction applied so the cup doesn’t fall off. When you have your next contraction, your care provider will ask you to push. While you are pushing, the doctor or midwife will pull, to help birth the baby’s head.

Once the baby’s head is out, the cup can be removed and you can push the baby the rest of the way out.

Vacuum Birth Side Effects and Risks

Babies who are born by ventouse develop a swelling or bump on their head where the suction cup was attached. Although this bump (called a chignon) does cause discomfort, it usually disappears within 48 hours of birth.

Other risks associated with vacuum assisted birth are:

  • Bleeding under the baby’s scalp, which doesn’t cause any long term problems and goes away with time.
  • Bleeding under the covering of the skull, called a cephalhaematoma. This can cause swelling on the side of the baby’s head and might last for weeks, but doesn’t cause any complications.
  • Bleeding inside the skull, called a subgaleal haemorrhage, which is rare but very serious.

Babies who are born with the help of ventouse can be quite unsettled and grumpy in the first days, especially when handled by strangers. Lots of cuddles and skin to skin with their mother will help, as well as having some cranial therapy to deal with any misalignment or headache.

Women who have a vacuum birth might experience pain and soreness if they have had an episiotomy or a tear. You might like to read our article, 6 Ways To Heal Your Perineum After Giving Birth.

Other risks for women are:

  • Risk of infection, if episiotomy is performed
  • Damage to the vagina and cervix, if the cup is not attached correctly to the baby
  • Pelvic joint pain, caused by position during delivery

To avoid the procedure being performed incorrectly, or causing any harm, only an experienced and skilled practitioner should undertake or supervise a vacuum extraction. If the baby’s head is not delivered easily then the procedure should be stopped, and forceps used, or c-section performed.

How Can I Avoid A Vacuum Assisted Birth?

Most women can push their baby out without any help. The best way to avoid an assisted birth is to be proactive during pregnancy and birth to ensure your labour progresses normally.

Some things you can do:

  • Stay fit and healthy during pregnancy.
  • Optimise fetal positioning during pregnancy (check out our article on OFP).
  • During pre and early labour, avoid trying to get things moving by over exerting yourself; conserve energy for when you need it.
  • During labour, stay upright and active; avoid lying on your back or being restricted by interventions from moving.
  • Keep your fluids up and eat if you want to; this can reduce your chances of maternal exhaustion so that you have energy to push later.
  • Research open, active positions for the pushing stage, such as kneeling, squatting and lunging.
  • Avoid having an epidural or, if one is needed, wait an hour after full dilation or until you have a pushing urge before trying to push.

Some women will need an assisted birth, despite doing all the right things to avoid it. If, in the end, you need a vacuum assisted birth, it’s important to remember this: the reason it happened might not occur again, and your next birth is likely to be a normal vaginal experience. The benefits of a vacuum birth can help women avoid a c-section, which could limit her future birth choices.

As with all interventions, ensure you are informed of the risks and benefits of a vacuum birth, and make sure your care provider is experienced in the procedure.

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Sam McCulloch Dip CBEd

Sam McCulloch enjoyed talking so much about birth she decided to become a birth educator and doula, supporting parents in making informed choices about their birth experience. In her spare time she writes novels. She is mother to three beautiful little humans.

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Comments 4

  1. Linda says:
    2 years ago

    My son had the vacuum forceps and at the time, I wasn’t educated about it before his birth or after his birth. He is now 25 years old and suffers from anxiety, depression, hates loud noises, and when he was an infant every time I would place him in his little crib next to the bed, he would start to cry but when I would pick him back up and placed him on the bed, he would be calm. When he got a bit older like 5 months, he wouldn’t stop crying in the nursery at my church and every time they would come and get me I would hold him while he would have these sharp sobs and couldn’t catch his breath. The remedy was always the breast. One time I held him while going down the stairs and his little body would stiffen up and he’d cling to me. He was also a thumb sucker which calmed him. As a toddler, he would growl and as he got older he would lose his temper, throw things and would try to calm down. He was a great baby, very easy and lovable like no tommorow but I truly believe that with his mental health and all he’s been through, counselling, special needs classrooms, Ritalin, etc it just made it worse. He has grown up and is very polite and loves his girl friend and is very respectable but I am now believing it was those vacuum forceps..

    Reply
  2. Carol Nicklen says:
    2 years ago

    Im wondering whether there has been a study on the long term mental health of babies born using assisted birth?
    My son was born after failed forceps x 2, then vacuum extraction. He has suffered anxiety and depression all his life.
    The daughter of a friend that was born the same way has Cerebral Palsy

    Reply
    • Ash says:
      1 year ago

      Yes I would love to see a study done on this. I was born using the vacuum. I am now nearly 25 and suffer from migraines and anxiety. I have two dents in my skull from the vacuum.

      Reply
  3. Carmla Cochrane says:
    3 years ago

    Hi my baby is in proterior position at the moment and i am due in another 4wks. Ive tried evrything to help baby turn but nothings happening. Ive had a VENTOUSE DELIVERY before was a bad xperience, jus wondering is it my choice to choose what sort of labour i can have. Im really scared at this stage, i am 41yrs old and looking at asking for a C Section in stead. PLEASE HELP.
    SCARED MUMMY.

    Reply

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