01/12/2024
Perfectly explained. I’ve seen the term FER being incorrectly used a lot recently, to describe “spontaneous, non-directed pushing”. Apparently, we should call it a Fergie!
Most of the time, what were seeing is a FERGIE.
Thanks, Dr. Rachel Reed!
.rachel.reed..
The 'fetal ejection reflex' is NOT the 'Ferguson reflex' (spontaneous pushing). Yet, I see the terms used incorrectly and interchangeably everywhere. I think this is a symptom of our current recirculation of surface-level misinformation in the birth culture. As a stickler for detail I twitch every time I see the term 'fetal ejection reflex' misused 🥴🤣 I usually save these types of longer rants for the Collective, but here you go...
FERGUSON REFLEX Discussed in an article by James Kenneth Wallace Ferguson in 1941 (another female bodily function named after a man). AKA 'utero-pituitary reflex' relates to when the baby's head descends and stretches the cervix and pelvic tissues stimulating receptors in these tissues to create a feedback loop that increases oxytocin and changes the contraction pattern to stronger and more expulsive. This is the normal uncontrollable spontaneous urge to push.
FETUS EJECTION REFLEX This term was initially coined by Newton, Foshee and Newton concerning experiments on mice. Michel Odent applied the term to physiological human birth in his article 'The Fetus Ejection Reflex'. In the article, Odent discusses his theory of physiologic fear where the fetus ejection reflex is initiated by a surge of adrenaline and catecholamines. This reflex results in an extremely fast birth ie. immediate ejection of the baby as an evolutionary survival mechanism initiated by a threat (predator) at the end of labour.
In his article, Odent writes "The fetus ejection reflex must not be confused with the Ferguson reflex. The Ferguson reflex is triggered by the pressure of the presenting part on the perineal muscles–in other words, local factors–while the fetus ejection reflex can start much earlier and is not triggered by local factors." .