The Mother and Her ChildSadler, William S. (William Samuel)
Science
The Mother and Her Child
Sadler, William S. (William Samuel)
Child care; Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene; Pregnancy
We desire to state that these expressions, both for and against
"twilight sleep," are not merely representative of our own experience
and attitude; but that they also represent, as far as we are able to
judge at the time of this writing, the consensus of opinion on the
part of the most reliable and experienced observers and practitioners
who have used and studied this method in both this country and Europe.
The dangers and difficulties of "twilight sleep" may be summarized as
follows:
1. That this method tends to weaken the mental resistance of many
women; to lessen their natural courage and to decrease that
commendable fortitude which is such a valuable feature of the
character endowment of the normal woman.
2. That "twilight sleep" is essentially a hospital method and is,
therefore, inaccessible to the vast majority of women belonging to
the middle and lower classes of society, as well as to those women who
live in rural communities.
3. That in fifteen or twenty per cent, the method fails to produce the
desired results--at least, when administered in amounts which are
deemed safe.
4. That this method does decrease the baby's chances of living; that
the second stage of labor is definitely prolonged; that from ten to
fifteen per cent of the babies are sufficiently under the influence of
the anesthesia when born as to be unable to breathe or cry without
artificial stimulus.
5. That it is a method requiring special training and experience; that
it will be many years before the average practitioner will become
proficient in its use; and that the older methods are probably far
safer for the average physician.
6. That the method requires more care in its administration than can
be expected outside of the hospital in order to avoid the dangers of
fetal asphyxiation--which danger has led not a few obstetricians to
abandon it.
7. That a satisfactory technic is almost impossible of development;
that every patient must be individualized; that the chief dangers are
connected with the over dosage of morphin; that the method is not
adaptable to the general practice of the average doctor.
8. That by prolonging the second stage of labor and by sometimes
giving too much morphin, the number of forceps deliveries is greatly
increased, with their attendant and increased dangers to both mother
and child.
9. That the prospects of passing through labor which may be rendered
painless by artificial methods, tends to produce an attitude of
carelessness and indifference towards those natural methods of living
and other hygienic practices which so greatly contribute to naturally
painless confinements.
10. That this method as sometimes practiced greatly increases the
dangers of a general anesthetic, if such should be found necessary
later on during the labor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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