Perhaps it’s just my perception, but it seems like out of my last few childbirth classes, more than half have tested positive for Group B-Strep (GBS) — weeks before the last month — and then went on to make a decision to take the antibiotics in labor.
The CDC, ACOG and the AAP recommend screening for all pregnant women around 35-37 weeks pregnant, later in pregnancy so as to tell if the bacteria is heavily colonized close to labor and delivery, the time when it could be passed to the baby.
Wonderful articles have been written to illuminate the subject, and even if you’ve read them before, I feel it is worth revisiting. Good reads can be found at Childbirth.org and Holistic Pediatric Association (HPA).
Years later, we are still giving women antibiotics when they may not be necessary, increasing resistance of the bacteria. “Ampicillin and amoxicillin have been rendered virtually useless for treating GBS by their prior overuse in laboring women in an effort to prevent GBS infection in newborns,” according to the HPA. Additionally, we are still putting mothers at risk of dealing with thrush from the beginning, endangering the success of breastfeeding.
The “Awareness” article at Childbirth.org states that for many physicians “the focus is on the high risk patients. If a woman is found to carry GBS and falls into one or more of the high risk situations during labor, her doctor can immediately start antibiotic treatment which will help protect the baby and the mother.”
Individualized care and treatment that can lead to true informed consent or refusal, now there’s an idea.