Precautions To Prevent Preterm Labor

In today’s scenario, delivering a baby in complete 42 weeks is becoming a rare phenomenon, with most women getting into labor any time between the thirty seventh and the fortieth weeks. There are lots of who have to struggle to delay their deliveries so as to avoid complications that are usually associated with babies born prematurely.

Preterm labor and consequent childbirth can often lead to more serious and long term consequences for the newborn’s health. And in case you are delivering a child before 37 weeks, it’s quite likely that the child may have to be kept in the incubator, as a lot many organs wouldn’t have completely developed by then.

Some of the general factors that contribute to preterm labor are an overly stressful work environment, long hours of standing and walking, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical accidents, mental pressure, emotional abuse and insecurities about social support. Apart from these general factors there may be certain internal medical factors, which may vary from person to person, and can only be interpreted and understood by medical practitioners.

As for the possible treatments, restricting activities and taking more bed rest is definitely the one that figures on the top of the list. In some cases your doctor may even advice you to completely avoid all activities except for the regular bathroom trips, and the length of the bed rest can vary, as some may be advised bed rest only for a short time while others may have to spend their entire pregnancy lying on a bed.

Sufficient rest helps in slowing down the contractions of the uterus and thus preventing preterm labor. If your doctor feels that bed rest alone will not help in preventing preterm labor, he may use certain muscle relaxants to cut down the contractions.

While of course there are ways to treat preterm labor, why not observe some precautions to avoid this situation from arising. Also observing precautions becomes even more important because none of the preterm labor treatments have been found to be completely effective in all cases.

The general precautions to take are to reduce stress, take small breaks between long work schedules, take as much rest as possible, eat healthy, keep yourself hydrated with a lot of water and avoid alcohol and cigarettes. Also, preventing and treating high blood pressure and diabetes can be quite helpful.