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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Doctors Don’t Always Need To Induce Labor

Compiled From Wire Services

Challenging a long-held view, a new study concludes doctors don’t always need to induce labor when a woman’s water breaks after a full-term pregnancy.

Instead, it appears that letting nature take its course is safe for both mother and baby.

A woman’s “water” breaks when the fetal membranes rupture before the start of labor, releasing amniotic fluid. This happens in about 8 percent of all women at the end of full-term pregnancies.

To help resolve whether inducing labor is necessary, Canadian doctors studied 5,041 women in this situation. They were randomly assigned either to have induced labor or to wait for labor to start for up to four days.

“There was very little difference,” said Dr. Mary E. Hannah of the University of Toronto, who described the results in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In both groups, about 3 percent of babies had infections, and about 10 percent were delivered by C-sections.

The study did find some advantages to induced labor. The women were less likely to have minor infections that are easily treatable with antibiotics, and they said they were happier with their care.