Home Birth and Home Birth Safety Research

At Understanding Birth Better, we undertake original research on home birth and home birth safety.

We locate, evaluate and synthesize epidemiologic research evidence from the scientific medical literature to better understand the risks and benefits of a low-intervention approach to birth, as provided primarily by midwives to low-risk pregnant women during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

We produce evidence regarding the safety of home birth and make it available for the benefit of mothers, midwives, legislators and other groups.

Find our more about who we are and our work on home birth and home birth safety.

Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America

This study is available online, free, at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416. The study can be downloaded in English, French, Spanish, German or in a larger print version. There are also 19 letters to the editor regarding the study from around the world after scrolling down through the study text or at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/330/7505/1416.

A short BMJ editorial about the study and 5 additional to letters to the editor are available at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/0-a.

• BMJ Home Birth Study: Questions and Answers
  
  
• Neonatal Mortality Risks Similar in Careful Comparison of the CPM2000 and the 2004 U.S. Neonatal Mortality among Term Births to non-Hispanic White Women, but Prematurity Lower with Midwives