Care in Normal Birth (WHO, 1996, 60 p.): 6. CLASSIFICATION OF PRACTICES IN NORMAL BIRTH: 6.4 Practices which are Frequently Used Inappropriately

Care in Normal Birth (WHO, 1996, 60 p.)

6. CLASSIFICATION OF PRACTICES IN NORMAL BIRTH

		(introduction...)
		6.1 Practices which are Demonstrably Useful and Should be Encouraged
		6.2 Practices which are Clearly Harmful or Ineffective and Should be Eliminated
		6.3 Practices for which Insufficient Evidence Exists to Support a Clear Recommendation and which Should be Used with Caution while Further Research Clarifies the Issue
		6.4 Practices which are Frequently Used Inappropriately

6.4 Practices which are Frequently Used Inappropriately

1. Restriction of food and fluids during labour (2.3).
2. Pain control by systemic agents (2.6).
3. Pain control by epidural analgesia (2.6).
4. Electronic fetal monitoring (2.7).
5. Wearing masks and sterile gowns during labour attendance (2.8).
6. Repeated or frequent vaginal examinations especially by more than one caregiver (3.3).
7. Oxytocin augmentation (3.5).
8. Routinely moving the labouring woman to a different room at the onset of the second stage (4.2).
9. Bladder catheterization (4.3).
10. Encouraging the woman to push when full dilatation or nearly full dilatation of the cervix has been diagnosed, before the woman feels the urge to bear down herself (4.3).
11. Rigid adherence to a stipulated duration of the second stage of labour, such as 1 hour, if maternal and fetal conditions are good and if there is progress of labour (4.5).
12. Operative delivery (4.5).
13. Liberal or routine use of episiotomy (4.7).
14. Manual exploration of the uterus after delivery (5.7).