December 23, 2008:

New Research shows every week of pregnancy counts. “It’s not ok to induce the labor when there is no medical reason for it” as quoted by a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in October 2008. The study calculated that for each week a baby stayed in the womb between 32 and 39 weeks, there is a 23% decrease in problems such as respiratory distress, jaundice, seizures, temperature instability and brain hemorrhages.

A study of nearly 15,000 children in the Journal of Pediatrics in July found that those born between 32 and 36 weeks had lower reading and math scores in first grade than babies who went to full term. New research also suggests that late preterm infants are at higher risk for mild cognitive and behavioral problems and may have lower I.Q.s than those who go full term.

“It’s very important for people to realize that every week counts,” says Lucky E. Jain, a professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.

Conventional wisdom is that inducing labor or having a Caesarean section a bit early posed little risk, since after 34 weeks gestation, all the baby has to do was grow. That is proved wrong now. You can read more about this development here.