The American Congress of Obstericians and Gynecologists (ACOG) now say that “All women need antibiotics one hour before cesarean delivery”
The reason this has not been general practice to prevent the 10-40% post surgery infection rate for cesarean delivery (1-3% for vaginal birth), was the concern that the antibiotics that made it into the baby’s bloodstream from the mother would interfere with newborn lab tests or could lead to antibiotic-resistant infections.
The ACOG is now making this recommendation because based on the latest data, prophylactic antibiotics given to pregnant women before a cesarean significantly reduce maternal infection and do not appear to harm newborns,†Dr. William H. Barth, Jr., chair of the ACOGs Committee on Obstetric Practice, said in a college news release.
Dr Barth went on to say None of the studies were large enough to say definitively that giving the mother the antibiotics before the cesarean incision does not appear to increase problems in the newborn, “but given the overall benefit to the mother, our committee which included pediatricians felt that this was the right thing to do.
Instances when this new recommendation does not apply are when the patient is already receiving appropriate antibiotics. When it is not possible to begin administration within 60 minutes of the first incision as with emergent c-section prophylaxis should be administered as soon as possible.
Hopefully it will prove to be the case that there are no negative consequences for cesarean delivered babies and that the mothers will be advised to take probiotics as part of their c section recovery.
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