In French maternity hospitals, women are required to wear a mask during their childbirth. They cannot breathe freely and are terribly distressed.
#StopAccouchementMasked
By Sonia Bisch, Founder and Spokesperson of the “Tou.te.s Against Obstetrical and Gynecological Violence” Collective @TCVOG (Stop_VOG page)
In French maternity hospitals, women are required to wear a mask during their childbirth.
They suffocate, vomit, panic, tear it off … When this mask does not fall off on its own, it prevents a good intake of air and sufficient thrust. It generates stress which is harmful to the good progress of childbirth and disrupts the meeting with her child. In addition, our national birth survey showed that wearing a mask appeared to lead to an increase in medical interventions and therefore complications in childbirth.
The riders of the Tour de France are exempt from it … Football players too. Even for cycling or jogging on Sunday, the mask is not recommended. In its recommendations, the World Health Organization has banned the mask in case of sport. However, childbirth requires real physical effort. Why add stress to the epidemic context which is already terribly distressing for everyone, and especially when you are pregnant?
“During childbirth, wearing a mask while pushing was a drag on getting air and good pushing. The doctor therefore had to resort to forceps ”
“I remember really wanting to vomit 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. "
“Having to keep the mask on all the time is terrible. Fever at 40 (without covid), forceps, episiotomy, mask on the nose, lack of consideration, the total … No visit from the dad because prohibited, mask compulsory also after diaper, total isolation for 1 week. A nightmare."
As if that weren't enough, many dads continue to be banned from childbirth and / or after childbirth, depriving them of the birth of their child. Women often give birth alone, without the valuable support of their partner. The medical teams can hardly compensate for this loneliness with more support, being under great pressure.
“These moments that belonged to us were stolen from us. I am psychologically very affected even 5 weeks after the birth of our baby. "
“Being in a single room, I don't understand why my husband could not be confined in my room, which would have allowed me to benefit from his support and, for him, to live the first 4 days of life. his son. I really have the feeling that we were robbed of his early life … "
"Extreme psychological loneliness during the maternity hospital stay, immense fatigue and despite my cesarean section, I had to get up a few hours later to take care of my baby despite the physical pain (due to the father's ban on coming).
“I hope that measures will be taken so that no mother has to go through what I went through. It is high time to take into consideration the psychological impact that such decisions will have on young parents. I have the feeling that I have been robbed of what should have been a moment of happiness shared with my husband. It became a nightmare that I had to face on my own. ”
However, in its communication concerning birth during covid 19, the French National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF) recalls the humanist principles of birth and the need for the spouse to be present in the room. birth. Maternal and family well-being must, according to the College, remain at the heart of caregivers' concerns.
Childbirth is above all a family affair. The start of a new one or the expansion of another. Technicality alone is far from sufficient to respond correctly to what is going on during a birth.
However, there is a simple solution to prevent women from wearing this mask. If caregivers used FFP2 masks and, if necessary, protective glasses or visor, this would be more than enough to protect them. Women would then be exempted from wearing them. France no longer experiences a shortage of masks, as it did at the start of the epidemic. This deliberate choice to wear a mask during childbirth is therefore all the more incomprehensible.
Abroad, recommendations for good medical practice have already been issued by senior health authorities, with the aim of preserving the health of women and children:
– In the 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.
– In the United States, the College of American Gynecologists and Obstetricians (ACOG) advises to wear a mask in the maternity ward if the parturient is positive for Covid but not to wear it at the time of the flare. However, it is up to the medical team to wear masks and, if necessary, protective glasses or visors.
In France, there are around 800,000 births per year. The delivery conditions made much more difficult at present due to the epidemic context deserve the full attention of our Minister of Health Olivier Véran and the French High Authorities of Health (Haute-Autorité de la Santé (HAS), CNGOF, National College of Midwives). It is urgent not to let each maternity hospital, or even each caregiver, decide unilaterally without consultation. A thoughtful and coherent protocol should be proposed through national recommendations.
It is urgent :
- to ban the mask during childbirth and labor,
- to equip healthcare professionals with FFP2 masks, goggles or visors
protection, if necessary, during childbirth and after childbirth, in order to dispense
women wear it, - to favor the presence of the spouse during the whole delivery (including labor)
and in layers.
We hope that France will catch up and quickly issue recommendations for good medical practice. Maternities will then have to follow them widely. Women deserve, in our country as elsewhere, to give birth in humane conditions, with respect for the family character of a birth, while protecting their physical and mental health. Future generations must be preserved. Let's build our future with humanity!