Latest Study on Home Birth From the Canadian Medical Association Journal

The September 15th issue of Canadian Medical Association Journal has a new study on the safety of home birth in comparison to hospital birth.

"The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada encourages research into the safety of all birth settings. It does not take a specific stand on home birth. In 2008, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reiterated its longstanding opposition to home births, stating that the choice to deliver at home places the process of giving birth ahead of the goal of having a healthy baby. In contrast, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom has issued a statement supporting home birth as a viable choice for women with uncomplicated pregnancies.

"In this study, we ascertained outcomes of all planned home births attended by registered midwives in an entire health region with a single-payer universal health care system. We compared them with the outcomes of all planned hospital births that met the criteria for home birth and were attended by the same cohort of midwives. We also compared the outcomes of a matched sample of women of similar risk status who planned to deliver in hospital with a physician in attendance.

"Our study showed that planned home birth attended by a registered midwife was associated with very low and comparable rates of perinatal death and reduced rates of obstetric interventions and adverse maternal outcomes compared with planned hospital birth attended by a midwife or physician. Our population rate of less than 1 perinatal death per 1000 births may serve as a benchmark to other jurisdictions as they evaluate their home-birth programs."

Click here for the full article:

Outcomes of Planned Home Birth Versus Hospital Birth

Reducing Infant Mortality

Newborn Mortality (Death) Rate

The United States is one of the only developed nations that continues to have worse infant mortality rates every year. We see more newborn death in the U.S. than every other country in the world that has adopted mother-friendly and baby-friendly birth and post-natal practices.

The video below is very good. It explores the causes of and solutions for infant death. Please take the time to watch it.

Reducing Infant Mortality from Debby Takikawa on Vimeo.

Home births 'as safe as hospital'

The BBC News has reported:

"The largest study of its kind has found that for low-risk women, giving birth at home is as safe as doing so in hospital with a midwife."

"...a comparison of "low-risk" women who planned to give birth at home with those who planned to give birth in hospital with a midwife found no difference in death or serious illness among either baby or mother.

"We found that for low-risk mothers at the start of their labour it is just as safe to deliver at home with a midwife as it is in hospital with a midwife," said Professor Simone Buitendijk of the TNO Institute for Applied Scientific Research."

Almost one-third of the women in the study who chose home birth were transferred to the hospital for complications, including abnormal fetal heart rate and the desire for epidural anesthesia, "But even when she needed to be transferred to the care of a doctor in a hospital, the risk to her or her baby was no higher than if she had started out her labour under the care of a midwife in hospital."

Please read the whole article here.