Group B Strep: Infected Mothers are More Likely to Pass Problems to Children

According to March of Dimes: "Up to 35% of women carry (Group B Strep). If a woman is infected her baby has a one in one-hundred chance of getting infected. Of the babies who are infected, up to 5% die as newborns and up to 30% suffer from serious neurological damage."

This means that the chances of any baby getting infected with GBS are up to .0035%. A further look shows that the chances of any baby dying from GBS is up to .0001725%, which is up to .05% of babies who have GBS. Also, the chances of any baby having serious neurological problems to do GBS are up to .000135%, which is up to 38% of babies who have GBS. This brings us to the fact that any baby will have chance of up to .0019775% of becoming infected with GBS and live with no serious side effects at all. This is a 57% chance for the baby who has GBS.

Every woman has to make up her mind about whether or not to have the simple swab test taken during her pregnancy. The test will have no lasting impact on the mother in itself. However, if the mother tests positive, it will have a big impact on the baby. First, the doctor may choose to either give the mother intravenous antibiotics during labor, or give the antibiotics intravenously to the baby when he/she is born. They won't know for sure if the baby is infected, so on the precautionary side they highly suggest giving him/her intravenous antibiotics, either directly or through the mother.

Unfortunately, some doctors don't make it sound like a choice, and if you aren't well informed ahead of time, you may feel that "doctor knows best" and decide to go that route without all the information. Intravenous antibiotics have been proven to reduce your baby's chances of becoming infected, according to some studies, but they also increase the mother's risk of contracting yeast infections and urinary tract infections plus they often require taking your baby away from you during those first precious moments, even if you had a vaginal birth with no complications. Meaning, if you had a cesarean section, your baby will be taken away from you for at least an hour or two. In some cases, the parent's worry for their child could have a more negative response in their parenting then the antibiotics the baby may receive. In this situation, it may be in their best interest to allow the normal procedures, in order to reassure them of their child's safety.

Worst case scenario, even if you do allow antibiotics, your baby will contract the bacteria and may have difficulty breathing, or other symptoms, which if left untreated could result in the baby's death. I personally know of a baby who was born at home and the parents denied their option of the swab test. Three days after the baby was born, he was having difficulty breathing due to GBS, and was brought to the hospital with the midwife's oxygen tank. The baby lived, and is now doing just fine, because the parents were paying attention to his body's signals.

In the case of a "normal" baby, parents should automatically keep an eye on their child's body signals, so this should not be out of the norm. In fact, for your particular case, it could be the best option. Just remember, that if you, the mother, are infected with GBS, your baby only has a 1% chance of contracting the bacteria, and if he does contract it the bacteria, he has a 57% chance of living with no serious complications at all due to GBS.