Presentation Information

Distress in Labour: A Psychoneuroendocrine Approach

• Speaker: Anna Maria Rossetti , Certified Midwife
• Presentation Type:
• Duration: 60 Mins
• Credits: 1 CERP, 1 ACM CPD, 1 ACNM CEU, 0.1 Midwifery CEU

Abstract:

Childbirth is a psychoneuroendocrine (PNEI) process that requires major neuromodulations to occur safely. Although this vision is recognized by the World Health Organization, it often fails to be implemented when facing a dystocia in labour, whether dynamic or mechanic. Currently in difficult labours, care is mainly focused on implementing the forces working on the uterus (uterine activity) or opting for an operative/surgical modality of birth. This standard care to dystocia brings poor outcomes in terms of quality of the experience as perceived by the mother/birthing person and family and it impacts the rates of exclusive lactation at 3 and 6 months afterwards, major indicators of the global quality of maternity care in high income countries. A PNEI perspective on labour and birth acknowledges the autonomous nervous system of both the person giving birth and the one being born. PNEI expands the parameters of our clinical observation of the uterus, its mechanic, metabolic and neurovegetative distress, including the association with myometrial lactic acidosis and women’s/labouring persons’ behaviours and stress responses. This lecture will offer an interpretation and practical tools to reverse the distress into a physiological stress, empowering the biological resources of mother/parent and baby on the long term.