It’s expensive to have a baby in America. The cost of having a baby is so expensive, in fact, that millennials feel they can’t afford to get pregnant. There’s a new report, published today, from Truhaven Health Analytics that breaks down the costs of having a baby in the United States.
From the forward:
One of the greatest opportunities for improving health care value is in maternity care, which impacts everyone at the beginning of life and about 85% of women during one or more episodes of care. Most childbearing women are healthy, have healthy fetuses, and have reason to expect an uncomplicated birth, yet routine maternity care is technology-intensive and expensive: combined maternal and newborn care is the most common and costly type of hospital care for all payers, private payers, and Medicaid.”
There are many ways to lower the costs of having a baby in America.
We can begin by stopping unnecessary interventions
Unnecessary interventions increase the cost of having a baby in America. These include but aren’t limited to:
- Unnecessary labor induction before 40 weeks
- Unnecessary synthetic hormones to “strengthen” labor contractions
- Unnecessary pain medications
- Unnecessary C-sections.
Every intervention carries a price tag to the consumer, the insurance companies, and the nation as a whole.
Someone has to pay for that epidural medication, as well as for the highly trained doctor who inserts it into your spine.
But there isn’t just the financial costs of having a baby.
There’s the physical and emotional costs of having a baby as well.
Pain during labor is information
Women request epidurals because doctors rarely help them prepare for the pain of childbirth and view it as something positive.
Your body responds to the pain by changing positions, which helps the baby descend the birth canal. Women aren’t told that once they are given an epidural, they will be tethered to the bed and they will not feel their baby being born.
Women aren’t told that no one will look at them or talk to them. Instead the labor and delivery nurses, doctors, and medical students who come in and out of the room will look at the electronic monitor that spits out data about each contraction.
Other women are bullied into getting epidurals when they do not want them.
I was told by the doctor we had never met before who was the only male in the practice that I was being “selfish” for continuing to labor without Pitocin and an epidural and that I should stop “inconveniencing” my family.
The labor and delivery nurses ignored my repeated requests to shut the epidural off. One of my legs was numb for weeks afterwards.
Another friend had a headache so bad (from a complication from the epidural) that she could barely lift her head. It was days before she could hold her baby.
We know that epidurals increase the likelihood that women will have a fever during labor and that babies born to moms who have had a fever during labor are more likely to have problems at birth, be given prophylactic antibiotics, and be separated from their mothers. These kind of interventions increase the cost of having a baby, both the financial and the psychological cost.
As this researcher explains, the most scientific birth is often the least medicalized one.
But without an epidural, how can you manage the pain of childbirth?
1) Hydrotherapy: In Scandinavian countries, as in many birth centers in America and in more progressive hospitals, one way is by using hydrotherapy, a fancy term for treatment by water. Many women find that bathing in warm water or taking a shower and directing the spray onto their bellies or back, helps lessen the pain of childbirth. Water costs pennies.
2) Acupuncture: In Scandinavian countries most midwives are trained in acupuncture. I watched a childbirth in Norway. When the contractions started to get really intense and the mom wanted to rest, her midwife dimmed the lights, put in needles, covered her and her husband with a blanket, and had her stay still. The acupuncture helped her relax and get her strength back. This sounds crazy to most Americans who have never heard of it but it is used to great effect in Europe. Training medical professionals to use acupuncture could be a very cost effective way to help women manage pain without other more invasive more expensive interventions.
3) Kind, supportive, caring attention: I attended a panel with a local doctor who does not have room in her schedule to take many pregnant women. “I know that sometimes I’m the best medicine,” she told the audience. “When a woman is having trouble in labor or feels overwhelmed, I come and sit with her. Often that’s all she needs.” Constant attendance during labor is one of the best ways to decrease the chance of having birth interventions (like surgery) and increase the chance a woman will feel more satisfied with her birth experience.
What is the cost of being loving, gentle, and encouraging to a laboring woman, helping her ride out contractions by massaging her (if she wants to be touched), looking her in the eyes, reminding her to relax her mouth (if you relax your lips, your lady bits relax too), and telling her she can do it?
That, like so many of the best health interventions, is pretty much free.
Maybe that C-section you had wasn’t actually necessary. But one thing you can be sure of: It was very lucrative for the hospital and the doctor who performed it.
Related content:
23 Reasons to Breastfeed Your Baby
Welcome to the World, Precious Baby Boy
Science Shows Breastfeeding Good for Babies, Bad for Business
Published: January 7, 2013
Updated: January 11, 2020
Roxanne says
I’m only a dog mom, but a friend of mine did no-meds childbirth with all of her kids. She used a hula motion with her hips and walked quite a bit. I can’t remember what the method is called, but they practiced for the pain by rubber-banding an ice cube to her hands. I’d never seen an epidural until my sis had one, and seeing that thing sticking out of her back freaked me out.
merr says
Though I’ve not given birth, I have many friends and loved ones who have. The alternatives you mention really should not be considered “alternatives” at all. Maybe one day they will be considered mainstream in this country.
Jennifer Fink says
I went with #1 and #3 for the births of my 3rd and 4th sons. And I can tell you that both of those births were far more comfortable than my first, epidural-assisted birth, both during the birth itself and in the days and weeks afterward.
Alisa Bowman says
Very thoughtful. We have a lot of unneeded interventions in the rich US, don’t we? I was thinking about CT scans and MRIs and such because of a recent news article that showed that people don’t know the risks–like they don’t realize a CT scan delivers radiation.
Alexandra says
I can’t imagine being told to stop “inconveniencing” my family while I was in labor! My daughter just had a baby. First she had to make it clear to the obstetrician that she wanted to avoid a C-section, if possible. She had an epidural, her choice. Epidurals did not exist when I had my children. The pain doesn’t stay with me, but 24 hours of labor for a first child is a lot. I had thought the epidural sounded like a nice alternative ….
Christine says
When I had a home birth in Japan, my midwife used moxibustion, a traditional Chinese medicine technique applied to the same points as used for acupuncture. It wasn’t for pain relief, but for a smooth labor, and I was glad to have access to alternatives. I’m looking so forward to your book!
Ruth Pennebaker says
Twenty-seven years after bearing my last child, I can’t believe the same bullying is still going on by doctors and hospitals who “know best.” I, too, can’t wait to see your book.
MyKidsEatSquid says
With my last child I went without any pain medication and it was by far my easiest labor. It was also my easiest recovery too. I understand that many women prefer epidurals, but I think you make a good point that with more support–most importantly health professionals more women would be comfortable without medication.
Living Large says
I did not give birth to my daughters, but it’s always seemed strange to me that the doctors seem so quick to induce labor. My great niece had her first child nearly 2 years ago and when my nephew told me they were inducing, I thought something was wrong. Nope. The doctor just “wanted to do it on that day.” Hmm.
Jane Boursaw says
During the birth of our two kids, my husband managed to keep all the interventions away. It’s a crazy business, the pregnancy/birth business.