Alan Greene, M.D., is a beloved practicing pediatrician, leading authority, and spokesperson for the green baby movement. Named "the Children's Health Hero of the Internet" by Intel, Dr. Greene teaches at Stanford University School of Medicine.
As Past President of The Organic Center, founding partner of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment and an Advisory Board member of Healthy Child Healthy World, Dr. Greene has an impressively green resume – and a wonderfully down-to-earth perspective. That could be because he has four children himself.
"In my job as a pediatrician at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University School of Medicine over the last ten years, I've seen how clinical experience, science, research, and technology have increased the choices that doctors and parents can make," says Dr. Greene. "But there’s also an important new set of choices parents can make that can have a beneficial impact on the environment."
Some mothers choose a natural birth; others require an epidural to ease the pain. Either way, the baby’s health is similar:1
Apgar scores are the same.
Blood pH levels are the same.
There is no increased risk of meconium in the bowel.
The rate of cesarean section is similar.
Among women who want to breastfeed and who deliver vaginally, there is no difference in breastfeeding between those who choose an epidural and those who choose no medical pain relief. (In the event of a C-section, women who have an epidural are more likely to breastfeed than those who have any other kind of anesthesia.)
Mothers who have an epidural report experiencing less pain during labor and feeling better immediately afterward.
REFERENCES : 1. Albani, A., and others. “The Effect on Breastfeeding Rate of Regional Anesthesia Technique for Cesarean and Vaginal Childbirth.” Minerva Anesthesiology, 1999, 65(9), pp. 625–630.
Leiberman, E., and O’Donoghue, C. “Unintended Effects of Epidural Analgesia During Labor: A Systematic Review.” Journal of Obstetric Gynecology, 2002, 186(5), Suppl. pp. S31–S68.
Leighton, B. L., and Halpern, S. H. “The Effects of Epidural Analgesia on Labor, Maternal, and Neonatal Outcomes: A Systematic Review.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2002, 186(5), Suppl. pp. S69–S77.
Crowell, M. “Relationship Between Obstetric Analgesia and Time of Effective Breast Feeding.” Journal of Nurse Midwifery, 1994, 39(3), pp. 150–156.
Raising Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Guide to pregnancy, Childbirth, Baby Care by Alan Greene, M.D
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