by Carol Sakala 
New Report: Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing
The country’s maternity care system is missing opportunities to provide better care and use resources more wisely by routinely intervening in labor and delivery in ways that interfere with, instead of promoting, supporting and protecting, innate biological processes that result in healthier outcomes for women and newborns. That is the conclusion of a major new report, Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing: Evidence and Implications for Women, Babies, and Maternity Care. The unprecedented synthesis of scientific research on how hormone systems function from late pregnancy through the early postpartum period concludes that commonly used maternity interventions —– such as labor induction, epidural analgesia, and cesarean section &mdashl can disturb hormonal processes and interfere with the benefits they offer.
Check out the report, booklet, fact sheets, infographics, and posters »