Jennifer Tow has posted that "stastically homebirth is safer". Safer than what?? When mortality statistics are brought into the question, homebirth can bring with it a significantly increased risk (in Australia at least). Yes I agree that homebirth can bring many benefits particularly regarding bonding and early initiation of breastfeeding but I think we need to be very careful with the "facts" that we are presenting and give parents the risks as well as the benefits involved. Bastian H; Keirse MJ; Lancaster PA in BMJ 1998 Aug 8;317(7155):384-8 when looking at all the home births in Australia over a 5 year period from 1985-90 demonstrated a different conclusion. Are there any similiar comprehensive studies in other parts of the world? "OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk of perinatal death in planned home births in Australia. DESIGN: Comparison of data on planned home births during 1985-90, notified to Homebirth Australia, with national data on perinatal deaths and outcomes of home births internationally. RESULTS: 50 perinatal deaths occurred in 7002 planned home births in Australia during 1985-90: 7.1 per 1000 (95% confidence interval 5.2 to 9.1) according to Australian definitions and 6.4 per 1000 (4.6 to 8.3) according to World Health Organisation definitions. The perinatal death rate in infants weighing more than 2500 g was higher than the national average (5.7 versus 3.6 per 1000: relative risk 1.6; 1.1 to 2.4) as were intrapartum deaths not due to malformations or immaturity (2.7 versus 0.9 per 1000: 3.0; 1. 9 to 4.8). More than half (52%) of the deaths were associated with intrapartum asphyxia. CONCLUSIONS: Australian home births carried a high death rate compared with both all Australian births and home births elsewhere. The two largest contributors to the excess mortality were underestimation of the risks associated with post-term birth, twin pregnancy and breech presentation, and a lack of response to fetal distress.". Marian Rigney RN _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html