Should i be induced or wait

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Read more about our editorial review process. Overdue baby: induced labour pros and cons. Read time 7 minutes. Breadcrumb Home Pregnancy Your pregnancy week by week Third trimester Overdue baby: induced labour pros and cons.

Email Post Tweet Post. Should I choose to have my labour induced if my baby is overdue? What are the risks of induction of labour for mums? What are the risks for babies of an induced labour? Do I have a say in the decision to have an induction? A large study compared inducing labour to waiting for it to start naturally and it found that inducing labour meant: fewer infant deaths at or around the time of birth similar rates of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit slightly fewer babies born with Apgar scores below seven an indication of poor health fewer caesarean sections more vaginal births involving forceps or vacuum extraction no clear difference in perineal trauma, bleeding after birth, or in the length of hospital stay between the two groups.

Stillbirth rates for babies born at weeks 41 and Babies who were not small for gestational age: 0. Buckley, S. Washington, D. Carmichael, S. J Midwifery Womens Health, 64 5 Caughey A. Rockville, MD. March Caughey, A. Measuring perinatal complications: methodologic issues related to gestational age. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 7 : Complications of term pregnancies beyond 37 weeks of gestation. Obstet Gynecol 1 : What is the best measure of maternal complications of term pregnancy: ongoing pregnancies or pregnancies delivered?

Am J Obstet Gynecol 4 : Cheyney, M. Cotzias, C. Prospective risk of unexplained stillbirth in singleton pregnancies at term: population based analysis. Darney, B. Elective induction of labor at term compared with expectant management: maternal and neonatal outcomes. Obstet Gynecol, 4 , Declercq, E. New York: Childbirth Connection. Divon, M. Male gender predisposes to prolongation of pregnancy.

A functional definition of prolonged pregnancy based on daily fetal and neonatal mortality rates. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 23 5 : Fagerlin, A. Helping patients decide: Ten steps to better risk communication. J Natl Cancer Inst 19 : Feldman, G. Obstet Gynecol 79 4 : Flenady, V. Major risk factors for stillbirth in high-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Lancet : Giscombe, C. Explaining disproportionately high rates of adverse birth outcomes among African Americans: the impact of stress, racism, and related factors in pregnancy. Psychol Bull 5 : Grobman, W. Labor induction versus expectant management in low-risk nulliparous women. N Engl J Med; Halloran, D. Effect of maternal weight on postterm delivery. J Perinatol 32 2 : Click here.

Hannah, M. Induction of labor as compared with serial antenatal monitoring in post-term pregnancy. A randomized controlled trial. N Engl J Med 24 : Postterm pregnancy: putting the merits of a policy of induction of labor into perspective. Birth 23 1 : Hilder, L. Prolonged pregnancy: evaluating gestation-specific risks of fetal and infant mortality.

Br J Obstet Gynaecol 2 : BMJ : ; author reply Huang, D. Determinants of unexplained antepartum fetal deaths. Obstet Gynecol 95 2 : Johnsen, S. Fetal size in the second trimester is associated with the duration of pregnancy, small fetuses having longer pregnancies.

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 8 : Jukic, A. Length of human pregnancy and contributors to its natural variation. Hum Reprod 28 10 : Keulen, J. Induction of labour at 41 weeks versus expectant management until 42 weeks INDEX : multicentre, randomised non-inferiority trial.

BMJ, , l Khambalia, A. Predicting date of birth and examining the best time to date a pregnancy. Int J Gynaecol Obstet 2 : Kramer, M. Analysis of perinatal mortality and its components: time for a change? Am J Epidemiol 6 : Little, S. Elective Induction of Labor: What is the Impact? Obstet Gynecol Clin N Am 44; — MacDorman, M. Kirmeyer Fetal and perinatal mortality, United States, Natl Vital Stat Rep 57 8 : Main, E. Maiti, K. Evidence that fetal death is associated with placental aging.

Am J Obstet Gynecol, , Margerison-Zilko, C. Post-term birth as a response to environmental stress : The case of September 11, Evol Med Public Health 1 : Martin, J. Births: Final Data for National Vital Statistics Reports. Menticoglou, S. Routine induction of labour at 41 weeks gestation: nonsensus consensus. Br J Obstet Gynaecol : — Middleton, P. Induction of labour for improving birth outcomes for women at or beyond term.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 5. Obstet and Gynec. Mishanina, E. Use of labour induction and risk of cesarean delivery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. CMAJ 9 : Mogren, I. Recurrence of prolonged pregnancy. Int J Epidemiol 28 2 : Morken, N. Perinatal mortality by gestational week and size at birth in singleton pregnancies at and beyond term: a nationwide population-based cohort study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 14 : Muglu, J. Risks of stillbirth and neonatal death with advancing gestation at term: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies of 15 million pregnancies.

PLoS Med 16 7 , e NICE Induction of Labor: Clinical Guidelines, No. Oberg, A. Maternal and fetal genetic contributions to postterm birth: familial clustering in a population-based sample of , Swedish births. Olesen, A. An estimate of the tendency to repeat postterm delivery. Epidemiology 10 4 : Perinatal and maternal complications related to postterm delivery: a national register-based study, Am J Obstet Gynecol 1 : Palatnik, A.

Induction of labor versus expectant management for women with a prior cesarean delivery. Am J Obstet Gynecol 3 : e Perneger, T. J Gen Intern Med 26 12 : Rosenstein, M. Risk of stillbirth and infant death stratified by gestational age. Sanchez-Ramos, L. Labor induction versus expectant management for postterm pregnancies: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Obstet Gynecol 6 : Savitz, D. Comparison of pregnancy dating by last menstrual period, ultrasound scanning, and their combination.

Am J Obstet Gynecol 6 : Smith, G. Life-table analysis of the risk of perinatal death at term and post term in singleton pregnancies. Am J Obstet Gynecol 3 : Use of time to event analysis to estimate the normal duration of human pregnancy. Hum Reprod 16 7 : Spong, C. JAMA 23 : Stapleton, S. Outcomes of care in birth centers: demonstration of a durable model. J Midwifery Womens Health, 58 1 : Stillbirth Collaborative Association between stillbirth and risk factors known at pregnancy confirmation.

JAMA 22 : Taipale, P. Predicting delivery date by ultrasound and last menstrual period in early gestation. Obstet Gynecol 97 2 : Walker, K. N Engl J Med ;9: Warland, J. A triple risk model for unexplained late stillbirth. Weiss, E. Arch Gynecol Obstet 1 : Wennerholm, U. Induction of labor versus expectant management for post-date pregnancy: is there sufficient evidence for a change in clinical practice? Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 88 1 : Ultrasound for fetal assessment in early pregnancy.

However, the benefits become less clear if her characteristics differ from those of the study participants in the ARRIVE trial. And most labor and delivery units are not built or staffed appropriately to accommodate the increase in occupancy that would result if many more first-time mothers were induced at full term. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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