Table of contents:
- Delivering a big baby either by normal way or by cesarean?
- What problems can happen to a large baby at birth?
Having a fetus with a large weight or more than normal can make it difficult for you during the birth process. Giving birth to a big baby can put you and your baby in a dangerous situation, it can even have a serious impact on the next baby's life. Therefore, it is important for you to monitor the weight development of the fetus since it is still in the womb. Do not let the fetus weigh more than normal at the time you want to be born.
Delivering a big baby either by normal way or by cesarean?
Babies are said to have a large weight when their weight exceeds 4000 grams. This is commonly referred to as macrosomia. Macrosomia can make it difficult for a mother to give birth normally. However, normal delivery is the most common method for pregnant women with macrosomic babies.
Although a normal delivery can increase the risk of the baby being injured during delivery because the size of the baby is bigger than the birth canal. However, normal delivery carries a lower risk of maternal death compared to pregnant women with macrosomic babies who deliver cesarean delivery, according to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Research conducted in Kuala Lumpur on 330 cases of macrosomia babies showed that 56% of macrosomia cases were delivered by normal delivery, whether labor was induced or not. Also, infant shoulder dystocia occurred in 4.9% of babies born normally. In addition, 4% of normal deliveries and 32% of cesarean deliveries had postpartum hemorrhage.
However, if a normal delivery is not possible and you are at greater risk, you may need to have a caesarean section. Forcing yourself to deliver a large baby the normal way can increase the risk of tearing of the perineum, excessive bleeding after delivery because the uterine muscles contract improperly, and damage to the mother's tailbone.
What problems can happen to a large baby at birth?
Shoulder dystocia may occur when delivering a large baby the normal way. Shoulder dystocia is a rare complication of large babies but can cause serious problems. This is an incident where the baby's shoulder gets caught behind the mother's pubic bone making it difficult for the baby to pass. The doctor may need to perform an episiotomy to help safely remove the baby during normal delivery, or even have to perform an emergency caesarean section.
Shoulder dystocia can also cause a baby's collarbone and upper arm to break. The more serious complications of shoulder dystocia can cause nerve damage to the baby's arm being caught.
Apart from these problems, macrosomic babies also have a higher risk of experiencing complications such as the following after birth.
- Have blood sugar levels that are lower than normal
- Have higher blood pressure
- Experiencing jaundice
Not only that, after growing macrosomia babies are also more at risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome in childhood. More research is needed to prove whether this macrosomia baby problem can increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease in adulthood.
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