Originally Posted by happyscrappy
epidurals are drugs. i do not approve of giving drugs to babies, unborn or not unless there is a critical situation. they definitely are not necessary, as before they existed, nobody had them!
Hmmm, pretty strong point of view. I'm glad you had easy deliveries. But if we follow the "they used to....." theory, we'd also have to add " they used to lose mom's in delivery, they used to lose more babies at delivery, they used to have more birth defects from difficult labour, the fathers never got to watch (because they'd be in the parlour with their cigars) etc, etc, etc.
An epidural does not give drugs to the baby. It is a local anesthetic that affects the mom.
Giving the mother narcotics to dull the pain (shots) DOES affect the baby as they cross the placenta barrier.
The risks of epidurals now is a LOT less that even 15 years ago.
As another poster said - you wouldn't have a tooth pulled without anesthetic , would you ----- they used to!
Just because one mother can pop out babies without needing pain control does not give her the position to dictate other's needs.
Just sayin.