Falling birthrates lead to improvements- QEH midwives

 

While authorities attempt to address a crisis of low birth rates affecting the island, midwives at the country’s largest healthcare institution say the sharp reduction in the number of women giving birth has delivered some benefits.

Nursing Officer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s obstetrics department Lorraine Trebble explained that the decline has allowed the department to significantly improve the quality of service extended to pregnant mothers and their new-born babies.

She explained that with less pregnant women to attend to, mothers and babies could have the full attention of midwives throughout the process of labour, childbirth and the critical moments after. The ease has also facilitated the implementation of new techniques by the midwives, which help to regulate the baby’s breathing, and temperature while improving the flow of breast milk.

“… there’s not such a mad rush every day, so we can give extra special care and even on the labour ward, we now actually deliver babies in the rooms and the women can now have a one-on-one experience that is much more rewarding for us as midwives,” she told reporters at the hospital on Christmas morning.

Trebble added that the midwife responsible for delivering the baby facilitates a process known as the “golden hour” in which the mother has uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact with her newborn in the first hour after birth.

“So, the slow birth rate may be a problem to the country in the long term, but it is a pleasure to the midwives because we can spend a little more time with our mothers that are actually giving birth.

“If the mother is unable to do the skin to skin, then the daddy does the skin to skin. So, it’s a lot more of a wonderful experience for the mums. We do deferred cord clamping where we encourage the father to cut the umbilical cord now. We try and get the baby to the breast within the first 15 minutes because we are baby-friendly, and we are trying to promote that and keep that going as best as we can,” Trebble disclosed.

Earlier this year, healthcare officials declared that a 15 percent decrease in the number of children born annually between 2007 and 2017, could have damning implications for the country’s labour force and public welfare institutions if allowed to continue. In February, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kenneth George declared that along with an aging population, the falling birth rates could negatively affect national development and called on the Ministry of Health and Wellness to start a national dialogue to address the issue.

Back in November, Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson echoed the sentiments and said the Government may have to make up for the shortfall by allowing more people to live and work in the country. (KS)