Opioids are often given during and after childbirth. Childbirth is incredible, but also hugely painful for some people.

And the different types of labor pain can be treated by different techniques or medications.

Why would it be crazy?

Because it shows up in the baby's meconium... That doesn't even get into the second order effects such as mothers then having trouble lactating/nursing. And beyond that, we should probably question why, statistically, the mothers that have the most children don't use painkillers during childbirth.

Why should we question that? The most obvious answer would be that women who have a hard time giving birth are more likely to get painkillers and less likely to want a second child.

I suppose this might seem obvious if you have not talked to many mothers.

> the mothers that have the most children don't use painkillers during childbirth

Maybe because those who have painful births are unlikely to want to go through it again?

That seems The obvious guess. It could definitely be wrong but unless research shows otherwise there doesn’t appear to be an a priori reason to avoid painkillers barring further research.

oh ffs please stop treating every situation like its a binary situation.

EVERYONE has different experiences and issues. some need surgery, some have a 30 min labour and its almost like a luge.

The answer here is not "every one should just suck it up like they used to" its "every situation should be treated based on the data and facts of scientific theory, and adjusted to deal with the different environmental variables"

Yes its more complicated, but the world and the lived experience of it is not black and white.

So? Are you worried that baby is going to go out and try to score baby heroin? You have to point to some actual negative outcome beyond "the drugs we gave were present".

Why don't mothers with the most children use painkillers?

Having children fundamentally alters your body, making future births easier, generally. The people with the most children tend to be poorerto, and might not be able to afford painkillers. The people with the most children might be religious families who treat women as machines for producing children. Maybe about a million hypotheses.

But we should be studying it! You are right about that. Our health care system under studies the experiences of women.

Childbirth can be natural or cesarean. The latter is functionally akin to a major abdominal surgery. Pain meds are normal after that.

Both are akin to major surgery.

Are you familiar with epidurals? Generally they give morphine or fentanyl through the epidural.

I wasn’t aware that epidurals were opioid-based. That explains things.

Most of the time, yes:

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/epidural-anesthesia