One month of confinement is not enough? Study: Only 6 weeks of rest in the "fourth trimester" is not enough to alleviate postpartum complications
About 800 pregnant women die from complications every day! How important is postpartum care for expectant mothers?
The physical changes that expectant mothers experience during pregnancy make the fetus more suitable for growth and development, but they often cause many complications and discomfort. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) survey, more than 800 women around the world die every day from complications caused by pregnancy or childbirth; physical or psychological complications are equally common.
In addition to the common physiological symptoms of various stages of pregnancy, such as morning sickness, nausea, breast pain, lower limb edema, difficulty breathing, accelerated heart rate, etc., pregnant women may develop more serious complications before delivery or during delivery, leading to postpartum The road to recovery is longer and more difficult. In recent years, the issue of full-term care for pregnant women has attracted more and more attention. Perfect postpartum care has a long-term physical and mental impact on pregnant women, and its importance is no less important than care during pregnancy.
What are the prenatal, delivery and postpartum complications? Severe cases may cause arterial embolism and uterine bleeding.
Among the common complications of pregnant women, some are more risky, such as venous thromboembolism, which is caused by slow blood flow during pregnancy, wounds during childbirth, or personal factors that cause partial thrombus to form inside the blood vessels; the thrombus flows through the lungs. , the heart is more likely to cause blood vessel embolism. In addition, women with a family history of high blood pressure or advanced maternal age are at higher risk of developing unexplained “peripartum cardiomyopathy” and “pre-epilepsy syndrome”. The former can lead to decreased heart function and heart failure, while the latter may endanger the lives of pregnant women and fetuses.
Women who are pregnant with two or more children have a 10-20% risk of developing pelvic organ prolapse, with symptoms such as frequent urination, leakage, and difficulty urinating and defecating. Medical measures (such as episiotomy) used during childbirth to assist in normal delivery may also cause iatrogenic complications, which may cause some women to experience pain in their lower genitals during sexual intercourse in the future, as well as postpartum wound pain and edema, which may make it difficult to defecate. . Forceps delivery may also cause injuries to the maternal birth canal or bladder, difficulty defecation, or incontinence; the use of uterotonics may cause endometritis and massive uterine bleeding.
In addition to the above-mentioned complications that may arise during prepartum and delivery, women who breastfeed after delivery may also suffer from “mastitis” caused by blocked and blocked mammary glands, or may suffer from “postpartum depression” due to great mental stress during pregnancy. “, “post-traumatic stress syndrome” and other mental illnesses. In addition, complications such as long-term low back pain, perineal pain, urinary incontinence and dyspareunia are not uncommon.
Is the traditional definition of confinement time enough? Six weeks of rest is not enough to alleviate postpartum complications
Modern medicine defines the puerperium period (commonly known as confinement period in Taiwan) as a period of 4-6 weeks when a woman’s physiology returns to her pre-pregnancy state; however, the authoritative medical journal “The Lancet” published a study in December last year focusing on women’s “postpartum period”. “Data on the impact of long-term physical and mental complications” show that a 6-week recovery period cannot effectively alleviate the troubles of postpartum complications. Even before recovery and relief, women have already begun to strive to play the role of mothers, which may lead to long-term physical and mental complications. question.
Statistics point out that the prevalence rate of postpartum depression among women in general is 10-16%, but the prevalence rate among Taiwanese women is as high as 10-26.8%, which is significantly higher than that in other countries. This result also reflects that Taiwanese society still does not pay enough attention to mothers. The main reason may be that the social education focus on maternal care is mostly focused on the “baby” rather than the “mother”. The hard work of childcare itself plus motherhood The stress can overwhelm women, but there is no help available.
Failure to recover early will affect postmenopausal life! The “fourth trimester” needs more attention from the outside world
In recent years, the concept of the “fourth trimester” has gradually attracted attention from the medical community and the public. The fourth trimester refers to the 12 weeks after delivery, when you are simultaneously welcoming a new baby and experiencing physical and mental challenges. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) called on the public in 2018 to pay attention to the impact of the fourth trimester on mothers’ health after childbirth; some postpartum therapists also said that postpartum pelvic floor muscle incompetence and rectus abdominis separation would lead to early pregnancy if there was no early With proper care and repair, it can even impact life after menopause.
As the public gradually pays more attention to the care of postpartum complications, relevant health and medical units should also promote more women’s self-care during pregnancy so that the public can obtain more complete and detailed cognitive education. When expectant mothers are in good physical and mental condition, the chances of their babies receiving adequate and healthy care will also be greatly increased.
Source:
Postpartum Depression - Medscape
The effect of childbirth no-one talks about
Lack of Attention to Women’s Health 6 Weeks After Childbirth
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