As a regional neighbour to Myanmar, the Commonwealth government has recognised Australia has a responsibility – and the capacity – to help alleviate poverty in the developing nation. Australia is also…
It can take some time for women to come to terms with the conceptual as well as physical change of giving birth.
Remy Sharp
There is a substantial literature on labour and childbirth in medical, midwifery and social scientific research. But we still don’t know much about how labouring women experience that pivotal time when…
When the movement to promote evidence-based healthcare began in the late 1980s, it started in the field of child birth. So it might be expected that by now, nearly a quarter of a century later, there would…
The total cost of care per woman was AUS$566·74 less for one-on-one midwifery care than for standard maternity care, the study found.
Sandor Weisz
A woman who is cared for by the same midwife throughout her pregnancy, labour and after birth saves the public health system around A$550, a new study has found, debunking the myth that it is an expensive…
Women who were randomised to receive midwife-led continuity models of care were less likely to experience preterm birth, the Cochrane review found.
feministjulie
Women who have a midwife as their main carer throughout pregnancy and birth are around 23% less likely to have a premature baby than women whose care is shared between different obstetricians, GPs and…
BBC’s The White Queen set to feature 15th Century birth scene, when female midwives were the norm.
BBC
The history of childbirth and midwifery has seen some dramatic changes, not only in new medical discoveries that vastly improved the safety of both mother and baby but also in social trends and the way…
With inadequate resources, it’s as difficult to deliver choice as babies.
Flickr: David Swift Photography
For decades there has been a struggle between those arguing for women’s wishes to come first when it comes to childbirth and those who believe that a healthy baby is the only important consideration…
Hospitals provide much-needed medical care and treatment for women who run into difficulty in childbirth. But many women and babies have medical intervention and treatment without good reason. We’ve become…
Research has shown benefits to mothers and babies when fathers are involved.
Pixabay
We all have different expectations about how involved dads should be during pregnancy and childbirth. In the UK, it’s generally seen as a good thing and research is now beginning to show that it matters…
Upright births are likely to be shorter, less painful and involve fewer interventions than recumbent births.
Image from shutterstock.com
Think of childbirth and you’re likely to picture a woman lying on her back on a hospital bed. That’s the position most (78%) Australian women adopt to give birth birth, despite growing evidence that being…
Indian women who had migrated to Australia were more likely than Australian-born women to have caesarean sections or instrumental births, the study found.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34547181@N00
Some groups of migrant women in Australia are at a higher risk of medical interventions in childbirth that may lead to health problems for the mother or child, a new study has found. Medical interventions…
Emotional health problems after childbirth are burdonsome and common.
storyvillegirl/flickr
Post-traumatic stress can result from life-threatening events such as military combat, violent assault or natural disasters. Women who feared that they or their baby would die or be seriously damaged during…
One in three Australian babies are born by caesarean – but we still don’t know the lifetime effects on the offspring.
Image from shutterstock.com
Despite efforts to reduce intervention rates during labour, vaginal births without medical intervention are becoming increasingly rare in Australia and overseas: nearly one in three women in Australian…
You may not forget the pain, but if you’re lucky, the end will justify the means.
Image from shutterstock.com
In an evolutionary sense, memory of pain serves an important purpose. Pain indicates a threat to our safety or our life, and human survival depends on us avoiding things that are going to kill us. Historically…
There has been very little scientific evidence so far to support sex as a method of inducing labour.
Image from shutterstock.com
Sex. It’s what got you into pregnancy, but is it also the pathway to getting you out? Around a quarter of all Australian pregnancies are medically induced, with a third of those inductions occurring due…
Private health insurance policies have played a crucial role in the rising rate of caesarean births.
Chimpr
The proportion of women who give birth by caesarean has risen dramatically in the developed world over the past few decades, with rates in Australia almost doubling, from 18% in 1991 to 31% in 2008. Until…
Women can move more easily in water, enabling them to change position with ease.
Flickr/kTLindSAy
“Women aren’t dolphins” is a phrase often bandied about by those who question why women want to immerse themselves in pools or warm baths during labour and birth. They forget that we’re not mountain goats…
Little is known about pelvic organ prolapse because its symptoms are incredibly embarrassing for women.
Meghana Kulkarni
Millions of Australian women experience a pelvic organ prolapse, but they suffer in silence. This hidden epidemic is a well-kept secret and few people in the rest of the community know anything about the…
Research Fellow University of Notre Dame Australia; Adjunct Fellow (National Institute of Complementary Medicine), Western Sydney University, University of Notre Dame Australia