Plea to reduce the number of stillbirths

[Delilah]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8373567/Plea-to-reduce-stillborn-births.html

[MrsBanks]

whilst it's great that the campaign is calling for more midwives, I'm not sure that it would make a massive difference to stillborn babies. In the case of Kym Marsh, was the baby not very premature? Even if they had known something was wrong there would have been very little they could have done.

[Delilah]

I think the theory is that when women have better care i.e. 1-1, the evidence points towards better outcomes, whether in labour or not.

[HazelB]

whilst it's great that the campaign is calling for more midwives, I'm not sure that it would make a massive difference to stillborn babies. In the case of Kym Marsh, was the baby not very premature? Even if they had known something was wrong there would have been very little they could have done.

I agree with this fully, that article could lead people to think that stillbirth is a result of the lack of midwifery care ? Surely the majority of SB babies are unable to be helped not matter what level of care provided ??

[cscmadwife]

whilst it's great that the campaign is calling for more midwives, I'm not sure that it would make a massive difference to stillborn babies. In the case of Kym Marsh, was the baby not very premature? Even if they had known something was wrong there would have been very little they could have done.

ITA I feel the thought is always (in medicine) that if we know more, we can do more. So more survailance, scans, intervention, will equal better outcomes for mother and baby. Campaigners demand more scans etc, in the belief that this would save their babies. And in some cases they will be right. If the baby mentioned had evidence of a slowing heartbeat, why was this not acted upon? Many babies in the UK die intrapartum, not because of a lack of monitoring, but because that monitoring is not interprited correctly. Maybe because of a lack of training, or maybe because the midwife is caring for another mother to be at the time the baby starts to show signs of distress.

When things start to go wrong in the second trimester parents and staff are left with a dilemma. How early do they deliver the baby? Is the intrauterine environment more harmful than extreme prematurity? And does knowing any of this help parents whose baby is going to either die in utero, or die shortly after a preterm birth (given that the baby is already in a precarious state of health)?