In our province silver nitrate or erythromycin ointments ("newborn
eyecare") is the only law (vaccines and vit K are not), however if you
have a more 'lay' type midwife (not the new ones we refer to as
'medwives') you can get still get around it. Although one woman was
threatened by her so called midwife a few years back and told that it
was required by law and that if she refused Child services would need to
be called and they would take the newborn (thereby jeopardizing the
bonding etc. of mom and newborn) and they would do it anyway. Nice. Oh,
and her 1st daughter had a known allergy to erythromycin.! Thank
goodness this is not a common occurrence with the midwives in our
province.
The crazy thing about the eye drops is that from my understanding even
if a woman does not have a vaginal birth but has a c-section, it is
still administered to the newborn. Despite the fact the baby DID NOT
come down the birth canal!!!
Vit K is still an option in our province but not everyone has this
luxury. It is worth doing research on to make an informed decision.
http://www.soothingdoula.com/newborn_t_and_p.htm
Newborn eye care or prophylaxis
Almost all states and provinces require this. In some instances parents
can sign a waiver to avoid the procedure.
Silver nitrate drops or erythromycin ointments are placed in the eyes
within an hour or so after birth to prevent infection and possible
blindness if the newborn is exposed to the bacteria causing gonorrhea in
the birth canal. Erythromycin also decrease the risk of an eye infection
caused by chlamydia
Silver nitrate causes redness, swelling and discharge from the eyes.
Erythromycin and tetracycline usually do not. All cause blurring of
vision. Delaying the procedure up to the allowed one hour gives you some
time with the baby when he is alert and can see clearly. Prophylaxis
cannot prevent all possible eye infections such as herpes simplex virus,
Group B streptococcus or hemophilus influenzae.
Some researchers now suggest that eye prophylaxis is overused. Rather
than treating all babies, they believe women should be tested for
chlamydia and gonorrhea and treated if necessary and only babies whose
mothers have infection be treated.
Hth
Wendy
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: February 20, 2006 1:56 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: CS>Silver in newborn eyes
My first child was given silver nitrate after birth which is caustic.She
also continued to have senitive eyes and vision weakness. My son had
antibiotic drops with no issues and the other 4 had nothing and have
better than 20/20. Of course I also knew there was no transferrable
infection.
