Pregnancy and delivery considerations during COVID-19

Protecting Breastfeeding during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review of Perinatal Care Recommendations in the Context of Maternal and Child Well-Being

“…Additionally, two publications suggested that the second stage of labor should be cut short [ 33 , 34 ], including instrumental delivery to be shortened [ 34 ] ( Figure 2 ). Of the recommendations with a non-country specific scope, 40% of publications (9 out of 22) recommended cesarean section for patients severely ill with COVID-19 [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. In contrast, on the national level, 65% of the available publications (15 out of 23) provided details in terms of the recommendation of cesarean section for severely ill pregnant women [ 18 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ].…”

“…The remaining recommendations, 6 made at the non-country specific level [ 25 , 26 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 56 ] and 11 at the national level [ 29 , 30 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 52 , 53 , 57 , 58 ], allowed for family births with 1 person arranged by the mother. Making the possibility of family birth dependent on local conditions and leaving the final decision to the authorities of each hospital were included in four papers, one on the non-country specific level [ 49 ] and three on the national level [ 23 , 24 , 53 ].…”

“…When support and companions during delivery were allowed, the authors recommended additional specific requirements for such persons, independent of the general pandemic restriction in hospitals, such as wearing masks (as highlighted as obligatory for companion persons in three papers on a non-country specific level [ 25 , 26 , 39 ] and six on a national level) [ 30 , 44 , 47 , 51 , 53 , 54 ] as well as washing hands (stressed in one of the recommendations issued non-country specific [ 38 ] and one [ 29 ] country-specific). Moreover, an obligatory screening test for COVID-19 of a support person during labor and delivery was recommended in 13 publications [ 29 , 30 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 45 , 48 , 51 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 58 , 59 ]. Less restrictive conditions, namely that the accompanying person must be asymptomatic without the need for a test, were recommended in three publications on the non-country specific level [ 25 , 26 , 36 ] and three papers on the national level [ 44 , 52 , 54 ] ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…It is noteworthy that all the recommendations that did not allow more than one visitor were published within the first three months of COVID-19, except Boeling’s second article from October 2020 [ 48 ]. Seven studies [ 39 , 41 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 68 , 69 ] recommended banning all visiting. These recommendations were dispersed over the period under review.…”

“…These recommendations were dispersed over the period under review. They were issued both on non-country specific [ 39 ] and on a national [ 53 ] level, over one year after the spreading SARS-CoV-2 infection was recognized as a pandemic. Five of the publications [ 39 , 55 , 56 , 68 , 69 ] suggested prohibiting visits only when a child or the mother was suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection or was already diagnosed with COVID-19.…”