Consumer Reports.org has just published an excellent article about ten procedures that may be more harmful than helpful during pregnancy and birth, as well as ten things to do during your pregnancy and five things to do before you become pregnant which can optimize your chances for a positive outcome. Tops on their list of things to avoid is a cesarean for a low-risk first birth.

In Washington, natural birth is big business! This article in the Washington City Paper describes the resounding success of a new midwifery practice at George Washington University Hospital under its director, Whitney Pinger, CNM. According to the article, "after running programs at Washington Hospital Center and Georgetown University Hospital, she came to GW last year, arriving like the LeBron of the up-market natural childbirth community." Click on the title to link to the article.

Bed sharing is a practice in which an infant shares the same sleep surface with another person, including the parents or siblings; it is often used interchangeably with co-sleeping. Co-sleeping is also used to mean having the infant sleep in a bassinet or crib that is directly next to the parents’ bed or in the same room.

Each and every one of you CAN take action to put birth centers on the Congressional radar. The birth community must take the lead on this--Congress won't take any action for us unless it hears from its constituents. AABC's lobbyist Karen Fennell is busy making Congressional visits, but they are saying they have not heard from you--so it must not be important . . .

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women who have a cesarean delivery appear to be more likely to suffer a stroke during the following year than women who give birth normally, researchers in Taiwan have shown.

As reported in an article by Gardiner Harris in the New York Times, "about 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed their infants at least briefly, the highest rate seen in the United States in more than a decade, according to a government survey released on Wednesday."

The Canadian government has banned polycarbonate infant bottles, the most popular variety on the market, after it officially declared one of their chemical ingredients toxic.

Funny drawings showing you the right and wrong way to take care of baby.

If you have considered an out-of-hospital birth center, you may want to learn more about them.

Babies should move at least 10 times every 12 hours. Most babies move much more often than that. Some even move hundreds of times each day.