What are the disadvantages to having the injection for 3rd stage?

Sorry if this has been asked before but I was wondering what all the fuss was about whether to have/not have the injectin to assist the delivery of the placenta. My OB recommended this for our first child so we had it without giving it much further thought (as I presumed my OB had my and my babies best interests in mind).
If the cord is left to pulse before the injection is given then how does having the injection negatively affect the mother or baby? I'm asking this question so I can make an informed choice with my next delivery.

Hey Jac.
Im not sure that there are any medical disadvantages to having the injection - it's moreso that you'e putting an unnecessary drug into your body after having a natural birth and labour (if you do).
It is given to help the placenta detach from the uterus, and to reduce the risk of post partum hemmorage. As you know if and when the injection is given the placenta is likely to be birthed in the next contraction (mine was anyhow).
If you don't have the injection, the placenta will naturally detach with the help of the release of oxytocin from skin to skin contact and breastfeeding your new baby. It will take longer to be expelled as obviously oxytocin is released naturally whereas the syntocinon is injected straight into the blood stream.

HTH

Big disadvantage is that it rushes the natural process and *from my experiences and research* you are more prone to a retained placenta (ironically) if you do this. If the body is left to be, the process is that the cord continues to pulsate, all the blood is delivered to the baby, after which, the placenta knows its done its job, as a hormone is released, which makes the placenta detatch from the uterus. Breastfeeding triggers the uterine contractions too.

Yes the synto has its place, if you look like you are starting to haemorrage, it is important to have it. If the placenta doesn't look like budging after about half an hour after the cord has finished pulsating, you should look into having it. It doesn't need to be routinely given in a normal birth however, as the body has its own processes for delivering the placenta. Meddle with this and its just screwing with the natural process and you might run into more problems than you solve.

For most people it might not have any negative effects, but it also might not have any positive effect either.

I hope this has helped you make an informed choice on the matter :).

I will be asking to not have this injection with this baby. All three of my others I was given it before I even knew about it. Well actually I expressed concern about having it (the needle, not the drug) as I have a phobia of needles & when I think about it, it annoyes me that I was just told to suck it up & stop being a sook instead of actually being told it probably wasn't something I needed at all awayway.
So yeah with Evan & Isla she just snuck it in as I had said don't let me see any needles because you wont get near me with it. But Glenn I did see it & made a fuss & she just jabbed me anyway :(

I agree with River and have read the same things in my reading and research that it can increase the risk of retained placenta and hence heamorrhage and needing to have a D&C - which seems contrary to the reasons it is used.

Ask your DR how quickly it acts? My understanding that it is pretty quickly and can be given when the need is shown.

It is usually given as the baby is being born, therefore it can interrupt the flow of the cord blood to the baby as the placenta can detach early and bubs can miss out on the cord blood.

Talk to your DR about it in your circumstances.

TICKLISH

One other thing I wanted to mention also about the cord clamping and the synto was that you do not have to cut the cord early if you have the injection. The body will not let too much blood flow to the baby, and don't you let them convince you that it will. Mother nature is not stupid and won't let the baby get 'flooded' with blood. Many women have natural contractions as strong as those with the synto, so there's no way it would mean a negative impact on the baby. As ticklish mentioned, you might have the placenta detatch prematurely, but that doesn't mean you should clamp the cord prematurely either.

HTH :)

One view that obs often say is that by not having the injection there might be a higher risk of the baby becoming jaundiced due to the high amount of red blood cells that bub has to break down. So that may be one thing that comes up when delayed cord clamping is discussed with your ob.

Good on you for really looking into it, so you can make the best your for you and bubs.

All the best :)

(Sorry- mis read you original post before. My post wasn't really relevant. Sorry!)

It stings!!!

LOL.

I had it after we'd waited 10 minutes and my body wasn't doing it yet. As such 10 minutes is not a long time, but my DD had had a few problems getting going (apgars 9 at 1min, 7 at 5mins, 10 at 10mins) and needed suctioning and oxygen. For that reason the cord had been cut so they could take her to the window to assess her colour (she was going blue). Since the cord was already cut and my DD was still too dazed to breastfeed and hadn't been continuously skin-to-skin (though she was off my chest less than 2 minutes while they assessed her colour, suctioned her nose and mouth and got the oxygen set up) perhaps my oxytocin production was interfered with. In any case they looked worried and i let them give me the injection.

I was at home and for me the worry of the midwife was enough to make me choose to have it. I have never heard (until this thread) that the injection causes retained placentas. I was and am basically of the opinion that you probably don't need it, but i'd never heard that it would cause problems or harm (other than not being able to say you had a fully natural birth even if you had no other drugs). For my midwives, they were 100% responsible for my life and the life of my baby at that point in time. Even if my body was going to do it naturally, it was worth it, FOR ME, to save them some worry and have the injection.

Bec

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One view that obs often say is that by not having the injection there might be a higher risk of the baby becoming jaundiced due to the high amount of red blood cells that bub has to break down. So that may be one thing that comes up when delayed cord clamping is discussed with your ob.

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Research actually disproves this theory. Jaundice has not been linked to "delayed" cord clamping (I put it in quotes because it is really normal cord clamping; the practice of syntocinon just before the baby is born and immediate clamping of the cord is really "early" cord clamping).

When I get a chance, I'll post a link to the American Academy of Pediatricians, whose policies recommend against early cord clamping. I need to go to bed now, though, as I have work in about seven hours... :(

Just thought I'd throw int hat when I asking about the injection, they told m,e what it was for and I laughed at them!! lol Surely the body knows how to deliver the placenta!...
Anyway, the DR said to me that if I was really concerned about the affect of it on the baby then they can administer it after the cord is cut (not that they have to clamp and cut early, but rather there is no hurry to clamp and cut or deliver the placenta.

So you can delay it if your concern is for the baby but you *need* to have the synto.

Another alternative is to take some lavender oil into labour with you and immediately after the birth, have the midwive or your support person put one drop directly onto your pubic bone. This will help the placenta to detach and also aid its delivery :)



PS: If you are worried about the synto, I reccomend looking into the Vit K dose (oral of injection) that they give bubs....nasty shyte in that thing too...

I can vouch for having the oxytocics cause a retained placenta. I had a syncto induction with my 3rd baby and even after she was born I still had to have the injection for the placenta (the drip had been turned off at the start of the 2nd stage of labour) So the only conclusion we can come up with for it is that my body was too overloaded with oxytocics (first synctocinon for the induction and then for the placenta) and it caused my uterus to clamp down tight on the placenta so it couldn't detach.

I did intend for it to be left for a while with my next birth, but the cord was wrapped tight around his neck and they had to cut it to be able to get him out as he was blue when he was born, so there are some instances like that where they will have to cut it pronto as there was no way they could get it over his head and away from his neck without cutting it. A situation like that too is also something they may try to pull on you too. If baby is a bit *flat* when they are born, *they* argue that the cord needs to be cut immediately, but there is strong evidence to suggest that infact leaving the cord intact is the best thing for baby in these circumstances. Obviously not if baby is really flat, but if they are just a little slow to get going.

ACtually, being jabbed without permission after having my first set me on my "rack off I'm doing fine" attitide with my next two. After birthing an 8 pounder in 4 hours, the nurse laughed at me for being upset about it. I didn't need any darn "help" and I was more horrified someone could just stick me like that.

Anyhoo, I didn't have it for the next two (they tried pulling the cord to "help" me again, till I told them off), for the third I was sitting up in bed on a tray thingy chatting away to family and it came out by itself in about 20 mins.

No need as far as I'm concerned.

Smickers..I'm not saying that whether this is right OR wrong (as in not having the injection may mean a higher risk jaundice) My post was meant to say that this is just what some obs may say to mothers at their antenatal apps.

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Smickers..I'm not saying that whether this is right OR wrong (as in not having the injection may mean a higher risk jaundice) My post was meant to say that this is just what some obs may say to mothers at their antenatal apps.

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Sorry Lee, I knew that, but my post did make it look a bit like I was responding to you, and I didn't mean it that way. You are absolutely right, and it is important that people know that the information that many Obs understand about cord clamping is unfortunately, outdated.