Kardashian's early c-section a mistake

The checkout lane of my grocery store left me frustrated last week. Not because of a long line, but due to a tabloid headline about Kim Kardashian. According to the magazine, she is demanding an early cesarean section.

If this report is accurate, Ms. Kardashian may not realize that a cesarean section before 39 weeks is exceptionally dangerous for her baby. A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that babies delivered just two weeks early by elective cesarean section were twice as likely to suffer from a variety of serious health issues, including underdeveloped lungs and difficulty regulating blood sugar. Cutting a little time off a pregnancy is just not worth the risk of your baby spending weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit, or worse.

This is not an issue for just celebrities. Nearly 1 in 3 pregnant women opt for a C-section. And that figure has been steadily on the rise in the U.S.

The overuse of the procedure is one of the reasons that the State of Florida fares so poorly on a prematurity report card from the March of Dimes. We earned a ‘D’, with 13 percent of our state’s babies born too soon. Just in Seminole County, more than 1,700 babies were born early last year.

Each of those children has a story. The health challenges don’t end when they leave the hospital. Many will face a lifetime of serious, complex health problems. Some, tragically, do not live beyond their first year.

We can do better. Before I joined Nemours Children’s Hospital, I treated premature babies in California at a time when the state moved its March of Dimes prematurity letter grade from an ‘F’ to a ‘B’.

How can Florida make similar improvements? First, we must educate parents and healthcare providers that early cesarean sections and elective induction of labor prior to 39 completed weeks of gestation should be avoided. A mom’s desire to return to work sooner or to avoid the physical discomforts that the last month of pregnancy may bring, are not good reasons. The March of Dimes Campaign “Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait” seeks to improve obstetrical practice and raise public awareness around this issue.

Second, we need to expand programs to reduce smoking in women of child-bearing age. In 2012, nearly 19 percent of women in Florida were smokers, nearly double the rate of smokers in California. Smoking significantly increases the risk for prematurity. Policies and programs must support initiatives that educate moms-to-be about the dangers of smoking and provide programs to aid in smoking cessation.

And lastly, we must improve access to healthcare for pregnant women and women who may become pregnant. Last year nearly 1 in 3 women in Florida did not have insurance, an increase from 2011. Improving access to prenatal care will help drive down prematurity rates.

On April 27, I will join thousands of people at Lake Eola Park for the March of Dimes March for Babies, an event dedicated to reducing prematurity and seeing healthier babies. The funds raised by the March of Dimes help support programs in education, clinical care and research in the fight against prematurity. We can achieve this goal, when everyone, from policy makers, to parents, to health care providers to celebrities, commit to taking the steps that we know will work in our efforts to see fewer babies born too soon.

Dr. Victoria Niklas is the chief of neonatology at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona.