Induction for overdue to be moved from 42 weeks to 41 weeks

[Glassofshloer]

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10166493/Pregnant-women-England-inducted-just-ONE-week-overdue.html

Just interested in your thoughts really.

Surely this will add to the already enormous number of women that are on wards being induced?

I went into Labour the day before induction at 40+5. I had scans the week before for growth and to check placenta which showed no issues but my trust booked induction at 41 as standard.

I was so grateful my baby did come then as my placenta had already started to look bad on delivery and my baby was much bigger than predicted. My Labour was also much harder than my first…if I ever had another I would opt for induction as soon as possible!

Our local hospital has been 'trialling' 41 week inductions over 42 week ones for the past 7 years (optional you don't have to accept) they're a large university hospital and when I had ds2 last year and was chatting to the midwife about it they said they've noticed a vast reduction in both stillbirths and post birth complications, especially in mothers who are over 30.

I think the problem is a lot of women don’t understand that it is optional. They don’t really understand the full process of being induced or what other options there are.

I know lots of people with healthy pregnancy’s who were just told their induction date with very little explanation or were told that it would be just the same as normal labour which for many women is incorrect.

I also think it’s a hard balance to strike. How many more women at a population level will sustain birth injuries because of this guidance in order to reduce a very small number of still births.

Or course every still birth is a tragedy but so much research doesn’t look into the life long impacts that birth injuries can have on women.