Over the years, various studies have shown that the type of delivery can influence the development and health of the baby , such as the risk of allergies, their cognitive development, as well as some differences at the immune level.
In all of them, it is shown that being born naturally will always be the best, and that cesarean sections should be performed only in the event of a problem. Now, a new study found that in cases of twin delivery, being born by cesarean section increases the likelihood that twins will have problems in their psychological development .
Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology , the study carried out by researchers from Medicine and Psychology at the University of Malaga, analyzed the effects of the type of delivery on the psychological development and intelligence of twins .
To do so, the births of 160 twins were analyzed, of which 55% were vaginal births and the remaining 45% were cesarean sections. Various tests of intelligence and neuropsychological and psychopedagogical development were carried out , which were subsequently contrasted with all the perinatal and obstetric information of each one, such as the type of delivery, the mother’s age, the weight at birth, among other things.
Upon completing the analysis and comparing the data, they found that the children with lower intellectual and cognitive development levels had been delivered by cesarean section . These results join the series of studies that have found that cesarean deliveries affect the development of babies in the short and long term.
In the study’s conclusions, the authors note:
“Statistically significant differences were found for verbal development, non-verbal development and global development, as well as general intelligence between the mean and mean ranges obtained by the 84 children born by vaginal delivery and those of the 40 born by cesarean section” .
What should multiple births be like?
Some time ago we shared an article with everything you need to know about multiple births, and in it, we answered one of the most frequent questions: vaginal delivery or cesarean section?
Previously, it was believed that all twin or multiple births should be by cesarean section, but several studies conducted in recent years have shown that a multiple pregnancy does not have to end in a cesarean section and that a vaginal delivery is safer, since which reduces the risk of natal morbidity.
In addition, another study conducted in twins found that cesarean section does not really provide any benefit over vaginal delivery , and does not represent a significant increase or decrease in the risk of fetal or neonatal death compared to vaginal delivery.
Then, the recommendation for a twin pregnancy would be similar to that of a simple pregnancy: if the gestation proceeds normally and without complications, and if the first baby comes in, a vaginal delivery will be the best option , and the cesarean section should only be performed in case of emergency or complications.
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Via | ABC
