HIGH RATES OF MEDICAL INTERVENTION IN GALWAY BIRTHS

Date Published: 30-May-2011

Mothers in Galway are more likely to have medical intervention in childbirth than in the rest of the country.

A new survey by Cuidiu, the Irish Childbirth Trust, has shown that mothers attending maternity units at UHG or Portiuncula are more likely to have labour induced, have instruments used in birth or undergo a Caesarean section.

28 per cent of mothers at both hospitals undergo Caesarean sections.

However, the two hospitals have one of the highest figures for breast-feeding amongst first-time mothers in the country with 69 per cent of first-time mothers breast-feeding straight after birth in UHG and 61 per cent in Portiuncula.

Study co-author Niamh Healy says mothers in Galway need to think about all the options available to them before labour.