New York Downtown Hospital

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Maternity Information

New York State's Maternity Information Law requires each hospital to provide the following information about its childbirth practices and procedures. This information can help you to better understand what you can expect, learn more about your childbirth choices, and plan for your baby's birth. Data shown are for 2011. For more information please see the Maternity Information Brochure.

All births

Intervention	This Facility		Statewide
Intervention	#	%	%
Total births	2,765	100.0%	n/a
Forceps delivery	7	0.3%	0.4%
Internal fetal monitoring	14	0.5%	9.0%
External fetal monitoring	2,699	97.6%	88.0%
Induction by artificial rupture of membranes	63	2.3%	11.6%
Induction by medicine	276	10.0%	17.0%
Augmented labor	160	5.8%	20.2%
Attended by midwife	9	0.3%	9.6%

% based on totals excluding cases with missing information.

Vaginal births

Intervention	This Facility		Statewide
Intervention	#	%	%
Vaginal births^‡	2,076	79.4%	65.8%
Vaginal birth after prior cesarean^†	87	34.1%	11.3%
Breech births delivered vaginally^‡	1	0.0%	0.2%
Episiotomy	416	20.2%	15.7%
General anesthesia	26	1.3%	0.5%
Spinal anesthesia	12	0.6%	5.0%
Epidural anesthesia	818	39.4%	58.8%
Local/other anesthesia	253	12.2%	12.6%
Paracervical anesthesia	1	0.0%	0.0%
Pudendal anesthesia	1	0.0%	0.1%

% based on total vaginal births excluding cases with missing information.
^‡% is percentage of total births
^†% is percentage of prior cesareans

Cesarean births

Intervention	This Facility		Statewide
Intervention	#	%	%
Cesarean births^‡	539	20.6%	34.2%
Primary cesarean^‡	376	14.4%	21.0%
Repeat cesarean^‡	163	6.2%	13.2%
General anesthesia	9	1.7%	4.4%
Spinal anesthesia	392	73.0%	68.6%
Epidural/local anesthesia	109	20.3%	26.3%

% based on total cesarean births excluding cases with missing information.
^‡% is percentage of total births

Breastfeeding

Infant Feeding Method¹	This Facility		Statewide
Infant Feeding Method¹	#	%	%
Fed any breast milk	2,084	78.1%	82.7%
Fed exclusively breast milk	476	17.8%	39.7%
Breastfed Infants Supplemented with Formula²	1,608	77.2%	51.9%

¹Based on live born infants, excluding infants who were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or transferred to or from another hospital.
²Percentage is based only on infants who were fed any breast milk.

Related Information

Maternity Information Brochure

Department of Health