feedback for "Parental Advisory: It's A Blur"

1. You can DEFINITELY ask that non-emergency medical procedures be delayed until you have had time to bond, breastfeed, etc. This does not depend on how accommodating the nurse is. It is absolutely your right. Birth should be about what is right for baby and mama, not what is convenient for the professionals involved.

   posted by : CaliMama on 4/9/2008 at 1:21 PM Flag For Abuse

2. neither of my kids had Vit K or Ointments in the eyes. The both have survived. I personally don't agree with the practice.

   posted by : carlie on 4/9/2008 at 1:39 PM Flag For Abuse

3. The doula who taught our Lamaze class made a huge deal about asking to delay the eye goo. It was like her personal mission. But when the time came for my kid to actually be born, it was the furthest thing from my mind, and I didn't care one bit. I think it's one of the many things that seems like a big deal when you're pregnant, but goes out the window after the baby is born and you have bigger issues to deal with.

   posted by : ShannonF on 4/9/2008 at 2:45 PM Flag For Abuse

4. great post.

   posted by : herpe on 4/10/2008 at 4:26 AM Flag For Abuse

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   posted by : hgirl on 4/10/2008 at 4:29 AM Flag For Abuse

6. The eye ointment isn't usually a big deal to refuse or delay, but you have to remind everybody in the room that that is what you want and then you should watch the nurse to make sure she doesn't do it as a matter of her routine when she is checking over the baby. This wasn't a big deal for me, but I am a doula and some of my clients have wanted to delay or refuse it.
   
   Amy
   Mom to 3
   www.sofiabean.com

   posted by : AmyE on 4/10/2008 at 9:32 AM Flag For Abuse

7. Parents have the right to refuse any procedure, the eye ointment, the vitamin K, and the Hep B shot. It isn't as hard as you make it sound, and being a parent means being an advocate for your child's interests, even when it is had.
   
   The eye goop is really unnecessary for the majority of babies and it doesn't even prove to work significantly better than no eye drops at all.*
   
   The gonococcal ophthalmitis brought on by a mother with gonnorhea is more serious but if you decline the drops and your child develops the infection, guess what happens? You go the doctor and just get the same eye drops a few days later.
   
   Most of there routine interventions aren't medically necessary, and as we learn more about the newborn's state of consciousness and the meeting of mom, baby, and breast, we should be more cautious about interfering with what evolution has perfected.
   
   
   *Chen JY. Prophylaxis of ophthalmia neonatorum: comparison of silver
   nitrate, tetracycline, erythromycin and no prophylaxis. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1992 Dec;11(12):1026-30.
   
   The incidence rates of neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis in the tetracycline, erythromycin, silver nitrate, no prophylaxis and erythromycin twice groups were 1.3, 1.5, 1.7, 1.6 and 1.4%, respectively. We conclude that neonatal ocular prophylaxis with erythromycin (one or two doses) or tetracycline or silver nitrate does not significantly reduce the incidence of neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis compared with that in those given no prophylaxis.

   posted by : xmasbaby7 on 4/12/2008 at 7:51 AM Flag For Abuse

8. Shit! You still have to drip the babies eyes in the States? I live in Scandinavia, and this practise was banished from hospitals here 20 years ago. (And I don't think we have any less chlamydia than you guys..) According to my doctor (who tested this on her self when she was a young doctor and this still was common procedure) it really stings in the eyes, and makes the newborn partially blinded for some time. No kid has had to go through this where I live, infant mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world. I loved the hours after I've given birth, just staring into my daughters eyes, who watched the world with caution and wonder. If I were to give birth in the States I definitively would refuse!

   posted by : Oslo on 4/16/2008 at 2:32 PM Flag For Abuse

9. I refused the eye drops, the vitamin K, and the hepatitis B shots when my daughters were born. I knew that I didn't have any STDs, and neither did my husband. We don't have a history of vitamin deficiencies, and I had taken prenatals throughout my pregnancy. And the kids are not allowed to practice unsafe sex or use dirty needles until they're at least 10, so Hep B wasn't an issue for our family.
   
   It was really no big deal, even in conservative Indiana, to refuse these procedures. The nurses apparently consulted our pediatrician, who is also our family doctor and knows us well, and he okayed our decisions, but that was it. No CPS, no grief from the nurses, no problems.
   
   Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com

   posted by : AmyA on 4/16/2008 at 8:24 PM Flag For Abuse

10. Thank god for all these posts. Informed people are so refreshing. It is so disgusting how often it is made out to seem that you have no choice around birth choices, but what a contradiction of terms. I am also thankful that I don't live in the States, but I am so saddened that this sense of fear and having no having no choice over your child's health permeates the rest of the world. For those who are interested, in Canada, you can refuse ANY procedure, INCLUDING a C-section even when the doctor thinks it is medically necessary (though I am 100% for sure not advocating this). Read the literature. Search PubMed for the studies, get informed and make your choices.

    posted by : Canadian Mom on 10/31/2008 at 6:10 PM Flag For Abuse

11. We opted out of the eye goo but let them do the vitamin K shot.  All I had to do was sign a simple form and it was not made out to be a big deal.  It's didn't seem inconvenient here in Ohio!
    

    posted by : theGrumbles on 11/6/2009 at 11:45 AM Flag For Abuse