{"id":12739,"date":"2025-09-10T13:14:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=12739"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:10:44","slug":"misinformation-vs-truth-about-epidurals-in-childbirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/childrens-health\/misinformation-vs-truth-about-epidurals-in-childbirth\/","title":{"rendered":"Misinformation vs truth about epidurals in childbirth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"405\" height=\"405\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-12740\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/10130004\/vicky-1757509203-Nikki-headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/10130004\/vicky-1757509203-Nikki-headshot.jpg 405w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/10130004\/vicky-1757509203-Nikki-headshot-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Dr. Nikki Higgins<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Director of Anaesthesiology at National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Discover the facts about epidural pain relief in labour. Learn the truth behind common myths on back pain, caesarean risk, labour duration, timing and safety.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Epidural analgesia is by far the most effective and reliable form of pain relief for labour, and it has a very good safety profile. Approximately 80% of first-time mothers delivering vaginally in the National Maternity Hospital will use epidural analgesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-epidurals-cause-chronic-back-pain\"><strong>Epidurals cause chronic back pain<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>False. While some women do experience back discomfort after labour, there\u2019s no evidence that epidurals are to blame.<sup>1<\/sup> Pregnancy itself and pre-existing back problems are the more likely culprits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-an-epidural-will-slow-labour-down\"><strong>An epidural will slow labour down<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Partially true. Epidurals do prolong labour, but the magnitude is small. It\u2019s just 15 minutes on average over the duration of the labour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>If nerve damage does occur, <br>it\u2019s far more likely to be <br>related to the birth itself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-if-i-get-an-epidural-i-ll-end-up-needing-a-c-section\"><strong>If I get an epidural, I\u2019ll end up needing a C-section<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Epidurals do not increase the risk of needing a caesarean section (C-section), and several large studies prove this. Research also shows that epidurals can make labour safer<sup>2 <\/sup>\u2014 especially for women with certain medical conditions.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-there-s-only-a-small-window-of-time-to-get-an-epidural\"><strong>There\u2019s only a small window of time to get an epidural<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While it\u2019s best not to wait until the last minute, you can usually request an epidural at any stage \u2014 as long as there\u2019s enough time for it to take effect. When labour is faster (eg. your second labour), the baby may come quicker than the epidural can take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-epidurals-can-cause-nerve-damage\"><strong>Epidurals can cause nerve damage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While this is possible, it is rare. If nerve damage does occur, it\u2019s far more likely to be related to the birth itself (eg. from prolonged pushing or pressure on nerves inside the pelvis from the baby).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\"><strong>[1]<\/strong> Timerga, Sara, et al. \u201cAssessment of the Association Between Neuraxial Anesthesia and Back Pain After Delivery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.\u201d <em>Anesthesiology Research and Practice<\/em>, 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1155\/anrp\/2105413?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1155\/anrp\/2105413<\/a>.<br><strong>[2]<\/strong> American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. \u201cAnalgesia and Cesarean Delivery Rates.\u201d <em>Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology<\/em>, vol. 107, no. 6, 2006, pp. 1487\u201388.<br><strong>[3]<\/strong> Kearns, R. J., et al. \u201cEpidural Analgesia During Labour and Severe Maternal Morbidity: Population Based Study.\u201d <em>BMJ<\/em>, vol. 385, 2024, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmj-2023-077190.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover the facts about epidural pain relief in labour. Learn the truth behind common myths on back pain, caesarean risk, labour duration, timing and safety. Epidural analgesia is by far the most effective and reliable form of pain relief for labour, and it has a very good safety profile. Approximately 80% of first-time mothers delivering &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/childrens-health\/misinformation-vs-truth-about-epidurals-in-childbirth\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":12741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3099],"tags":[5981],"class_list":["post-12739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-health","tag-childrens-health-wellbeing-2025"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/10131256\/vicky-1757509968-AdobeStock_1641842161-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/10131256\/vicky-1757509968-AdobeStock_1641842161-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"henryphillips","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/henryphillips\/"},"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12798,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739\/revisions\/12798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}