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Antenatal perineal massage helps reduce both perineal trauma during birth and pain afterwards. Most women are keen to give birth without perineal tears, cuts and stitches, as these often cause pain and discomfort afterwards, and this can impact negatively on sexual functioning. Perineal massage during the last month of pregnancy has been suggested as ...

Not enough evidence to know how best to treat women with hypertension after birth. After birth, it is not uncommon for women to experience high blood pressure (hypertension), but it can have serious consequences. It can lead to stroke and, very rarely, death. It is unclear what causes hypertension after childbirth, or which women may develop the problem, ...

Obesity and excessive weight gain during pregnancy are associated with poor outcomes for mother and baby. These include gestational diabetes, raised blood pressure (hypertension) in pregnancy, maternal venous blood clots (thromboembolism), delivery by caesarean section, high birthweight, stillbirth, maternal infection (sepsis), heavy maternal bleeding ...

Corticosteroids given to women in early labour help the babies' lungs to mature and so reduce the number of babies who die or suffer breathing problems at birth. Babies born very early are at risk of breathing difficulties (respiratory distress syndrome) and other complications at birth. Some babies have developmental delay and some do not survive the ...

Folate is a naturally occurring vitamin while folic aid is the synthetic replacement of folate used in most supplements and in fortified foods. Folate is essential as its deficiency can be caused by poor dietary intake, genetic factors or the interaction between genetic factors and the environment. Women with sickle cell disease and those women in areas ...

Caesarean section is an operation that is performed on many pregnant woman to deliver the baby. During caesarean section the mother can be placed in a number of positions on the theatre table. Cushions and wedges can also be used to alter her position on the table and devices can also be used to displace the uterus laterally. This review aimed to assess ...

Miscarriage is when a pregnant woman loses her baby before the baby would be considered able to survive outside the womb, i.e. before 24 weeks' gestation. Miscarriage occurs in about 10% to 15% of pregnancies and the signs are bleeding usually with some abdominal pain and cramping. The cause of miscarriage is often unknown, but most are likely to be ...

There is no evidence from randomised controlled trials to evaluate the best method of administering subcutaneous heparin to pregnant women. Pregnant women have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) when compared with non-pregnant women because of changes in blood clotting. VTE includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). ...

Each year, a significant number of pregnant women around the world develop gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), defined as glucose intolerance or high blood glucose concentration (hyperglycaemia) that starts or is first recognised during pregnancy. Women with GDM are at risk of having instrumental birth and their babies are more likely to be large for ...

A Rhesus-negative (Rh-negative) pregnant woman might develop Rh antibodies in her blood stream when she carries a Rh-positive baby. The subsequent antibody formation has the potential to attack the red blood cells of a Rh-positive baby during pregnancy. This might make the baby anaemic and in severe cases, the baby might die. Other Cochrane reviews ...