Home births create much higher risk to babies

A new study published by researchers from the Main Medical Center show that home births create a much higher risk to babies than those born in a hospital setting. The study has found that babies had an increased chance in dying at birth or shortly after at three times the rate of babies born in the hospital. Most of these deaths are related to respiratory problems and the inability to properly resuscitate the infants.

While proponents of home birthing are disputing the findings, the evidence that these neonatal deaths could have been prevented in a medical setting was overwhelming. Most of these deaths had to do with improper medical training. It is that simple. While birth always presents the risk of death to infant or mother, the rate of deaths for either party has significantly dropped with the advancement of medicine.

Home birth rates vary across the developed nations in the world. Only 1 in 200 births in America are done so at home. Many of these were an unexpected home birth which, again, leads to chances of complications. Places like northern Europe have high incidences of home birth, nearly one third of all births. However, the infant death rate remains consistent among the numbers regardless of these ratios.

While home birth has led to a decrease in problems for the mothers, it has lead to an increase in infant mortality. Further research will need to be conducted to ensure that those women wishing to give birth at home can do so, with out the horrors associated with loosing their own child.