Since the covid-19 pandemic, maternity hospitals often require their patients to wear masks. A constraint that makes childbirth even more difficult for many women.
46% of women had to give birth with a mask in France, denounces a national survey carried out on 2,727 women who gave birth between February 15 and May 31, 2020.
Childbirth is far from a long, calm river, especially with a mask that makes labor even more painful. Vomiting, shortness of breath, difficult breathing, many mothers have warned of the rather restrictive childbirth conditions in maternity hospitals. Thus, under the hashtag “StopAccouchementMasked” on Twitter, the Tou.te.s collective against Obstetric and Gynecological Violence gives voice to its women.
“My wife will give birth to our second in January. The maternity ward told us that she would give birth masked. For this day when the woman needs all her strength ?! Absurdity. Medical nonsense. Inhuman". #StopAccouchementMask", indignant a surfer.
“I remember really wanting to throw up after each push, I had such a hard time breathing (…) The hardest part was when they put my son on my chest: with the mask, I didn't Didn't manage to see him at all … During the first two hours of his life! I was told so much about this supposedly magical moment. For me, it was all frustration, exhaustion and discouragement ”, says a mother.
Recommendations that advise against wearing a mask
For the collective, there are misunderstandings within the maternity hospitals. "We conducted a survey which highlights a correlation between wearing a mask and complications during childbirth. More stress, postpartum depression (…) The WHO recommends not wearing the mask during physical efforts, childbirth is nevertheless an intense physical effort, it is a marathon ", explains Sonia Bisch, founder and spokesperson for Tou.te.s contre les Violences Obstétricales et Gynécologiques, at France Inter. Today, she would like there to be clear and above all, common instructions for all maternity wards. Currently, each maternity unit decides whether or not to wear a mask for future mothers.
Abroad, the recommendations for the mask are clear. United Kingdom, “The Royal College of Midwives (RMC) asks teams to protect themselves. Parturients do not have to wear a mask. The college summarizes women's rights (respect, protection, etc.) and lists the risks associated with wearing a mask during work: reactivation of a past trauma, exacerbation of breathing, hypoxia, limitation of communication, over-medicalization, discomfort and fever ”, says Sonia Bisch. In the United States, the Colleges of American Gynecologists and Obstetricians (ACOG) advise “Wear a mask in the maternity ward if the parturient is positive for Covid but not to wear it during the outbreak. However, it is up to the medical team to equip themselves with masks and, if necessary, protective glasses or visors. "
Towards rapid screening for pregnant women?
For Sonia Bisch, it is essential to ban the mask during childbirth, but also, it is necessary to:
- Equip healthcare professionals with FFP2 masks, protective glasses or visors, if necessary, during childbirth and after childbirth, in order to dispense with the need for women to wear them,
- Encourage the presence of the spouse during the entire delivery
For Adrien Gantois, president of the College of Midwives of France, we should go even further by requesting screenings. "We cannot imagine a team of midwives contaminated with Covid-19. Unlike other specialties, we cannot deprogram a childbirth. The day when a woman can, as soon as she is admitted to the maternity ward, have a blood test. rapid detection, things will obviously be much simpler ", he explains.
Thus, clear directives are expected in maternity hospitals in the coming weeks.