It has been long known that babies born by caesarean delivery or c-section have higher rate of post-delivery death; however those deaths were believed to have been caused by complications that led to the necessity of c-section delivery.

Generally speaking though, caesarean delivery has become increasingly safer over the past decades; hence, more and more women nowadays choose to have c-section instead of normal delivery even when there is no medical need for such method of childbirth. Delivery by caesarean section on request of the mother is called elective caesarean section.

Researchers from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, however would like to inform mothers, clinicians and as well as policymakers that babies born by elective caesarean are almost three times more likely to die in the first month than those born naturally. This finding was based on a study on more than 5.7 million births in the US.

According the researchers the process of labor is beneficial to the baby as it helps squeeze fluid out of his lungs and thus promote release of hormones good for proper functioning of his respiratory system. Risks brought by c-section delivery are not absolute but mothers must certainly know the risks that come with a caesarean delivery before they make their choices.