Caesarean section births are often thought to be safer. In fact they disrupt the natural bond between mother and baby and can interrupt brain development.
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Articles on Birth
Displaying 1 - 20 of 85 articles
Women favour seeing the same health provider throughout pregnancy, in labour and after they have their baby – whether that’s via midwifery group practice, a private midwife or a private obstetrician.
Planned early delivery is a key component of reducing child and maternal mortality.
Many women want to see the same one or two midwives throughout, and want to chose where they give birth. And when the time comes, they want a vaginal birth, with less intervention.
New motherhood is often portrayed as a time of joy but it can also be filled with fears and complicated feelings. Here’s how you can get help and support.
Several familiar maternity terms have been abandoned after a consultation with pregnant women and healthcare professionals.
Crying triggers changes in how a newborn baby gets their oxygen. But not all new babies cry, and it’s not always a problem.
COVID-19 vaccination has been shown to be safe in pregnancy, and protects both the mother and infant from severe disease. It’s now also clear that infants’ antibody protection continues after birth.
Being pregnant and giving birth during the pandemic meant disruptions in pregnancy care and birth experiences, as well as detrimental effects on mental health and birth outcomes.
What are the risks and benefits of having labour induced?
While sepsis is considered to be a preventable cause of maternal death, it continues to be a major cause of women dying during or after childbirth, even in Australia.
Live birth has evolved independently more than 150 times. The underlying biophysical processes all look quite similar, but new research shows they use completely different genetic tools.
On International Women’s Day, two women writers discuss feminism, writing in the age of Trump and Covid – and being ‘flabbergasted’ by the absence of birth from Western art and philosophy.
Women deserve to know all the risks and be supported in their birth choices.
On Father’s Day, a scholar of ancient Greek poetry explains how he came to understand the father-son relationship and his journey of loss and yearning through reading the epics.
Induction of labour can be life-saving in some situations. But women are increasingly induced for non-medical reasons, and earlier in their pregnancies.
Tokophobia goes beyond normal childbirth concerns and worries and becomes an intense and irrational fear of pregnancy and/or labour.
Many women are turning away from hospital births during the pandemic, preferring to give birth at home. But midwives aren’t always available to support them. So some are birthing without one.
While identical twins are seen more as an accidental splitting of a single egg, there could be a good reason mothers produce non-identical twins from two separate eggs.
The three-toed skink can give birth to live young and lay eggs in the same pregnancy. What can this little critter teach us about the evolution of live birth?
Top contributors
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Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR, Midwifery Discipline Leader, Western Sydney University
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Professor in Midwifery, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, Evolutionary Biology, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer of Midwifery, Western Sydney University
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Postdoctoral Research Associate, UNSW Sydney
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Epidemiologist/Assistant Professor at the Department of Midwifery Science (Amsterdam UMC, Groningen UMC), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Senior Research Fellow in Maternal and Reproductive Health, University of Hull
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Professor of Midwifery and Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Southern Cross University
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NHMRC Early Career Fellow, Telethon Kids Institute
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Post-doctoral Fellow in the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University
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PhD candidate, Western Sydney University
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Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Academic Lead of UNSW's Grand Challenges Program, UNSW Sydney
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Professor and Head of Maternal Fetal Medicine, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor (Conjoint), School of Women's and Children's Health, UNSW Sydney
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Lecturer, Macquarie University
