Waiting is best for you and your baby

For a healthy baby, 39 is a magic number.

That's how many weeks - or more -- it takes a baby to be fully ready to be born. A baby born earlier can face serious health risks.

It's easy to find hospitals committed to having you complete those 39 weeks if you can. They belong to our Elective Delivery Infant Safety Program.

What's an elective delivery?

Sometimes a baby must be delivered early because the health of the baby or mother is at risk. That is an emergency delivery.

An elective delivery is when you choose to have your baby before your body says it's time.

Babies are born early by:

• Induction -- a drug starts or speeds up labor
• Surgery - called a Cesarean or C-section

Why do some women have elective delivery?

It's often done to fit someone's schedule. Maybe the mom's. But it could also be for the doctor or hospital.

Why is a safety policy needed?

Elective deliveries have grown dramatically in the U.S.

At some hospitals, a third or more of all births take place before babies have reached 39 weeks.¹

What are the risks?

Babies born early can have problems:

• Breathing
• Feeding
• Seeing
• Hearing

What groups support this effort?

Many of the nation's hospitals, academic and professional organizations favor reducing the numbers of elective preterm births.

Among them:

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• The March of Dimes
• The Leapfrog Group, a patient safety group

How can I learn more?

Watch Waiting for Baby.

1. The Leapfrog Group. Hospital rates of early scheduled deliveries. 2012. Available at: http://www.leapfroggroup.org/tooearlydeliveries. Accessed Aug. 6, 2013.