Study Links Pitocin to Negative Birth Memories, Reduced breastfeeding rates and more

A while back I participated in a research study about 3 year olds. I was unaware of what she was researching at the time, but I found the results to be fascinating. The author, Claire Winstone, allowed me to publish it as long as I attached her email if anyone had any further questions. Feel free to pass it on.

The study found that women who had pitocin in their births had more negative recollections of their births, spent less time with their babies in the immediate postpartum period, were less likely to exclusively breastfeed. There were also ramifications for baby; babies born in pitocin births were more likely as three year olds to have trouble communicating their needs effectively and had more experiences of discomfort and insecurity. It's a fascinating read. Click here to read the findings in their entirety.

Reasons to Have a Home Birth

1. No unnecessary fetal monitoring that leads to unnecessary pitocin that leads to unnecessary instruments pulling your baby from your body.

2. You will never be coerced into having a speculum exam to prove your water actually broke, even though fluid has been pouring out of your body for 6 hours.

3. You will not contract a staph infection at home, nor will you be told your baby has meningitis by mistake because of a "contaminated draw."

4. Your doctor or midwife won't be able to convince you that they need to manually stretch out your vagina because home birth midwives know they don't need to.

5. You will feel safer and you will be right.

6. You will not be woken up every two hours for various ridiculous reasons.

7. You will be able to eat and drink in labor.

8. You will be treated as if you are walking through a rite of passage, not as if you have a potentially life threatening disease.

9. No one will ever say to you "aren't you ready for that epidural yet?"

You should not need to have a home birth to have your rights as a laboring women upheld. But sometimes, you do.