I think this is another hyped up story, the real issue is the fact that the mother was obese and not the C-section causing toddler obesity.
My wife due to a spinal injury and corrective surgery has to have a C-section this October, she has worked so hard to get her body as healthy as possible ready for pregnancy but she does feel looked down upon by other mothers for not having a natural birth, there is a real movement against C-section births at the moment and while I agree that if the birth can take place with no medical risk to mother or baby then yes natural should be the way forward but please please remember that for some women their only chance of children means a C-section and this kind of story can and does scare and upset mothers who have no other option.

dad to be

Posted: 29/05/2012 at 16:41

Hi. I had to have an emergency section as my little boy was facing sideways and didn't want to come out. I was pushing for an hour but he was too stubborn! During my pregnancy, the birth didn't worry me at all, except the thought of having to have a section, so when they told me it was necessary I was hysterically upset and basically terrified! However, the experience was much better than i'd expected, and my baby arrived with us both safe and sound.

I get so annoyed when i see stories like this, as the majority of sections are not the first choice of mothers, and it is very upsetting. There was a programme on the telly a while ago where a woman said she thinks babies born by c-section don't bond with their mothers as well, her reasoning being that SHE was a section baby and didn't have a great relationship with her mother! I was soooo angry. I have a fab bond with my boy, he is doing really well. He was fully breastfed until just before 6 months, and is between the 25th and 50th percentile for his weight, and he's so active i'm sure he won't be obese by the time he's 3! I myself am not overweight, and he eats healthier than me!

Hope your wife can ignore these stories and not worry too much!

Nat

Posted: 29/05/2012 at 22:11

totally agree the link is due to maternal obesity, not caesarean birth! also caesareans have greater blood loss, which can sometimes result in delayed lactation - which i suppose might mean a slightly higher chance of a bottle fed baby, which carries a slightly increased risk that the baby could become obese. a very loose link though i would have thought!

my sister is expecting her 1st baby - she is insisting on a caesarean despite having no medical need for one, she is horrified by natural birth (despite refusing to listen to many of the facts) and sees one advantage as being able to pick the day!! I guess people like her perpetuate the too posh to push myth...most women would love to avoid caesarean, but it is a wonderful life saving procedure where necessary. total rubbish too that women who have surgical births dont bond with their babies as well! doesnt sound like its based on much evidence kazzie, other than the authors own rubbish relationship with her mum! x

Posted: 29/05/2012 at 22:21

Is your sister going to get her way, as I read doctors can still refuse to do a section if there's no real reason. I'm hoping I'll be allowed to try for a natural birth for the next one, though i think hubby would prefer me to have another section as i pretty much zoned out for most of my labour which i think concerned him a bit!

xxx

Posted: 31/05/2012 at 11:15

I love the comments here. At least some of us know how not to believe everything that is said in the news. It is crazy the amount of rubbish that gets published these days. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I had my baby by C-section. It wasn't our choice but my waters had broken on the Saturday AM and on Tuesday, my baby was still not out and was very happy where he was!! By then I was really tired and falling asleep between contractions - if you can believe this! - which eventually stopped altogether. The hospital staff decided to make me lie down to better monitor me and baby, which is when everything went wrong: I was not doing well and neither baby. So this is when they took me to theater. I have to say, when they mentioned C-section I thought '-Hooray! I am going to be relieved soon and see my baby!!!'
When my boy was born, it was magical and I was as high as a kite from that day on and the following months, despite the night feeds and all!! I wouldn't change a thing. I had no issues whatsoever with the c-section. You have to take it easy though - someone had advised me to go for walks days after the surgery, which I would completely advise AGAINST as it only exhausted me further! If you must go out, keep the walking and carrying stuff to a strict minimum. Oh, and you cannot drive for 6 weeks, so, call a cab instead. Ask other people to help you with the cleaning and shopping or order online.
To come back to the point of the article, I have never been obese nor even slightly overweight. I am a healthy 60 kgs for 1m68 height.When my boy was born he didn't want the breast straight away. It took maybe a day or so for him to get a grip and after that... a dream! He is 15months old now and he is still breastfed on top of the food he eats. He is not a big eater though and looks rather skinny for his age. I believe it is because he was breastfed for the start that he doesn't look like most of the 'michelin looking' babies who were put on formula from day one. My boy is very active as well, walking and crawling everywhere he can. I cannot see how he could possibly become obese! Both his dad and me are fit and healthy eaters and it looks like my boy will follow suit. The C-section has nothing to do with this!

Posted: 31/05/2012 at 13:51