Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Antenatal tests

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Flip

Original poster

IV antibiotics during labour - what are the risks?

22 replies

Malinna · 14/11/2011 13:38

Hi all, can anyone point me in the direction of a clear guide to the risks of taking IV antibiotics during labour - based on scientific research? I'd also be interested in hearing from Mums who have researched this, and either..

Decided to take them based on their research, when they have been initially wary due to a desire for a natural birth

Decided not to take them based on the evidence (if tested positive for GBS)

I am fully aware of the risks of GBS, so if you would like to highlight or discuss these then please start a seperate thread. I'm just really interested to find out more about the risks of IV antibiotics, so I can make a careful decision based on all the facts.

Some very brief internet research suggested the risks might be..

Killing off all the good bacteria in the baby's intestinal tract
Degrading baby's immune system by encouraging the development of bacteria strains that are resistant to anti-biotics
Very small risk of death to mother and baby due to allergic reaction, even if mother has shown no signs of allergy prior to labour

Thanks,

Malinna

OP posts:

KellyGarrett · 14/11/2011 20:37

Don't know... But BUMP hopefully!

KellyGarrett · 14/11/2011 20:38

Maybe ask this under a pregnancy topic instead??

KellyGarrett · 14/11/2011 20:55

Sorry - I am being stupid here..

Another article..

www.healthychild.com/birth/treating-group-b-strep-are-antibiotics-necessary/

Northernlurker · 14/11/2011 20:59

I think the risks to the baby are very small compared to the risk of the infection. What I would be worried about is the effect on your labour that being on an IV would have. Can the medical staff arrange it so you keep mobile? If you are stuck in one position the chances are you will find labour harder to cope with and it may be slower leading to more intervention.Many, if not all, hospitals will have a policy not only regarding IV for the mother in labour but also for the baby too. You need to know what they are likely to recommend after the birth and then you can decide if that's intervention you will accept.

Original poster

Malinna · 16/11/2011 07:20

Thanks Kelly, that's a really useful article!

OP posts:

VivaLeBeaver · 16/11/2011 07:28

The antibiotics take about 15 minutes to run through and are needed once every 4 hours. So it's not like you're hooked to a drip for the whole of you're labour.

minicorrect · 16/11/2011 07:33

Oh god! Have just spent far too much of last night wishing I'd refused the IV antibiotics when I went into labour and stayed at home like I'd planned. And now I see this to cement that feeling. Oh well - didn't have time to research at the time, but hopefully this may help someone else's decision.

belgo · 16/11/2011 07:40

As someone else has said, you do not need to be hooked up to the drip throughout the labour. Even if you are on the drip, it goes into your forearm, and you are still able to walk around and you should even be able to use the birthing pool.

I had a home birth six years ago here in Belgium, and received the IV antibiotics at home. I personally don?t think it has had any adverse effects on dd2, she is very healthy.

Mum2be79 · 10/12/2011 22:22

I've got the results of my GBS test in my notes and they also say which antibiotics you are given. Luckily, they're antibiotics that I've had before so no allergic reaction for me. One of them is Erythromycin.
I suppose it's like all antibiotics - if you've never had them, you won't know you're allergic to them until you're given them.

Just be careful when you 'research' or google it - plenty horror stories out there. And as many people will realise, (like travel reviews), most people are more inclined to share their nightmares than their successes.

Nattyw · 10/02/2012 20:17

I personally had the antibiotics due to lack of support over it with my partner. it did restrict my mobility, and due to the fact i have fast labours i didnt get the drugs in time and dd spent the first two days of her life with a cannula in because they insisted she had to have the antibiotics. turns out she was fine and never had the infection.

I refused all intervention with my third child, no antibiotics during or after labour and just watched for symptoms of gbs (hourly obs done at home etc)

this time round i will wait and see if i test + first. :p

bugsylugs · 18/02/2012 00:42

Good luck. I would have treatment but then I have seen the devesation of the infection. Nattyw hourly obs would quite likely do lo little good. Each to there own though.

fairtradelu · 21/06/2012 08:11

I had a UTI in week 11 of pregnancy which was treated with a course of antibiotics. Midwife told me at later appointment that they had found GBS in that urine sample. Ever since I've been wondering about the whole antibiotics thing - it just doesn't feel right to be hooked up to a drip during labour - I want as natural a birth as poss and it doesn't fit into the birth that I want. I am also constantly thinking that I only know about the GBS because of the UTI - if I hadn't handed in that urine sample, I'd be none the wiser and wouldn't even be thinking about GBS.

As you can probably tell, I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I don't want antibiotics during labour but there is a constant nagging guilt there: is this me putting my personal preferences above my baby's health? Am I being overly selfish / irresponsible?

CherryCheesecake · 21/06/2012 08:17

I had the antibiotics. IMO the risk of infection to the baby from gbs is worse than any thing from the drip. I couldn't give a toss about how natural or mobile I was in labour as long as dd was out alright. Btw I wasn't told I had gbs till I arrived with broken waters and contractions. The hospital knew at 28 weeks, bloody useless sometimes haha.

fairtradelu · 21/06/2012 08:24

Hi Cherry, thanks for your message. How long were you on the drip for? Did it inhibit you at all during labour?

PotteringAlong · 21/06/2012 08:37

I had the antibiotics - in my mind if my DS caught GBS and I hadn't had them then the outcome could be so much much worse than having the antibiotics. I had them every 4 hours but wasn't hooked up to the drip the whole time and had an active labour.

As it happened my DS still tested +ve for GBS so he needed iv antibiotics himself after birth but, other than his cord taking longer to drop off because the bacteria that make it fall off were killed, there were no other problems.

For me, the risks if GBS were much much worse than the antibiotics. If you knew you could stop your child having a life threatening condition why on earth would you not?

PotteringAlong · 21/06/2012 08:38

Oh, unlike cherry I did know I had GBS and had a bit florescent sticker on my notes so I'd researched it before

Maamekin · 21/06/2012 08:42

I had iv antibiotics during labour. I don't think I was on the drip long, can't really remember. I live abroad and there was a bit of a language barrier, they just said to me, you have an infection, you need antibiotics, and I nodded mutely. I don't know what the infection was. I'm unaware of any adverse affects to me or DD.

With regards to inhibiting me during labour, I don't think I was even particularly aware of having it in. I know that I was also put on a syntocinon drip, and after that things moved very quickly. According to DH when I got to the transition stage (think it was then, as I say, things moved fast) then I ripped the cannula from my arm and blood spurted wildly over everything. I was completely unaware .

I didn't really want to be mobile in either of my labours, I wanted to curl up and be still and quiet - just how I dealt with it personally.

CherryCheesecake · 21/06/2012 15:13

I was stuck on a monitor any ways due to meconium in the waters but I kept gettin up to go for a wee every half an hour. My labour from my waters going was 11 hours. I just wheeled my drip along with me :)

CherryCheesecake · 21/06/2012 15:16

Toward the end I had 3 drips tho cos I wanted an epidural in the end and was on that fake hormone drip. Can't remember what it's called

PrettyFlyForAWifi · 21/06/2012 19:53

IV antibiotics in labour shouldn't affect a baby's gut flora, although if baby goes on to have GBS he/she will have so many antibiotics that their gut flora will inevitably be affected. However they do recover from that very quickly so I wouldn't really focus on that too much and I especially wouldn't use that as a reason to decline IV antibiotics.
Regarding antimicrobial resistance in individuals, that develops after multiple courses. A one off dose in labour will not cause resistance. As for a general increase in resistant organisms, yes, it's a problem and it's why clinicians are encouraged to reduce their use of broad spectrum antibiotics where possible.

Allergic reactions do of course occur, but true life threatening anaphylaxis is very rare (1/100000 women treated, see RCOG guidance www.rcog.org.uk/files/rcog-corp/uploaded-files/GT36GroupBStrep2003.pdf) and you'd be in the right place if you were so unfortunate as to have one.

The drip doesn't take long to go through, it's annoying as all added extras in labour are, but...I know you didn't ask for opinions but just please make sure you're not disregarding the very sound evidence on how severe GBS infection can be.

fairtradelu · 22/06/2012 08:02

Thanks Pretty. Am going to discuss it with midwife and ask for another test to see if I'm still carrying the infection - it was picked up v early in pregnancy and I had a course of antibiotics afterwards so am hoping there is a chance I may no longer be carrying it. If not I'm just going to have to put up with a labour that doesn't fit my ideal. The main thing is the baby is healthy.

Thanks for all the info and advice everyone.

PrettyFlyForAWifi · 22/06/2012 08:46

I'm sure you realise this but the fact that you had it anenatally in your urine (as opposed to rectal/vaginal swab) means the GBS is a bit more invasive in your system. Therefore it's not massively relevant if you've cleared it as it may well come back and obviously it's impractical to test daily! That means that you will most likely be offered IVs during labour. This website is useful by the way: www.gbss.org.uk/index.php
Like you say, main thing is baby's health and who ever gets the perfect labour? Not me, anyway - the way I view it now is that it's one day (hopefully!) of my life and then I get a lifetime with my baby so who the hell cares if I get to be serene in the birthing pool or not. I do not have the best track record with pregnancy, labour or babies though so possibly I am a touch jaded in my outlook :)

Flip