Who needs to have an amniotomy?
Some doctors routinely perform an amniotomy during the active phase of labor, although most will only use the procedure to augment or induce labor. While labor contractions may be more painful after an elective amniotomy has been performed, there is no evidence to suggest that routine amniotomy increases the incidence of cesarean section, low Apgar scores or infection of either the baby or the mother. If your doctor chooses to perform an elective amniotomy, the active phase of your labor will be considerably shorter (by about 25%) and the demand for synthetic oxytocin will be reduced.
