RESEARCH LIBRARY
It's your birth.  Know your options.
Looking for a local birth professional?
Check out our Local Online Resource Guide.
BirthNetwork of Northwest Arkansas
A Chapter of BirthNetwork National
BirthNetwork National and BirthNetwork of Northwest Arkansas do not give medical advice.  The sites below are recommended for their informative nature, with the understanding that every pregnancy and birth is different, and every woman and family are responsible for their own medical decisions.
Not sure what questions to ask your care provider? 
Wondering about the risks of a particular procedure? 
Researching what kind of care is best for you and your baby?
Use these resource links to empower yourself with information!

Help this page grow--send us links to valuable, evidence-based information!
CATEGORIES
Breastfeeding

Benefits of Breastfeeding

 


Get Inspired by Your Mom-Made Wonder Food from Best for Babes


Breastfeeding Help

 


La Leche League International: La Leche League International strives to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother. Contact your local La Leche League:

 

LLL of Fayetteville/Springdale
LLL of Rogers/Bentonville

 


Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #6: Keep Mother and Baby Together–It’s Best for Mother, Baby, and Breastfeeding

 


Your Game Plan for Getting Breastfeeding Off to a Great Start from Best for Babes. "95% of breastfeeding problems can be avoided and less than 5% of women don’t have the ability to make enough milk for their children.  So, despite the abundance of myths and misinformation out there about what works and doesn’t work with breastfeeding, there are actually clinically and scientifically proven how-to’s about nursing."
 


Prepare: The Learning Curve of Breastfeeding, from Best for Babes. "One of the biggest keys to succeeding at breastfeeding is to set your head for a learning curve experience.... Although breastfeeding is instinctive, it is a skill that both mother and baby have to learn and master. This is what we call the learning curve of breastfeeding and it usually takes about 4-6 weeks."


back to categories

Cesarean and VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Cesarean)
 
Childbirth Connection Review of C-Section Research: includes information about the immediate and long-term effects of cesarean surgery on mothers, babies, and subsequent pregnancies, in comparison to the effects of vaginal birth.
 
ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network): ICAN is a non-profit advocacy and support group whose mission is to improve maternal and child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, provide support for cesarean recovery, and promote vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).
 
ICAN of Northwest Arkansas:
Contact: Kari Campbell, ?
Or Contact: Angela Watson, 479-443-2337  
 
The Unnecesarean: a patient advocacy site and blog that provides information about preventing an unnecessary cesarean, especially a physician-planned cesarean for a baby that is suspected to be "too big," and offers "resources for making fully-informed decisions about childbirth while offering an irreverent take on the maternity care crisis in the United States and beyond."

back to categories

Circumcision
Comfort Measures
 
Freedom of Movement: see Positioning for Labor and Birth
 
Hypnobabies®: a hypnosis program for birth.
 
see also Labor Support
 
Waterbirth

back to categories

Eating and Drinking During Labor
 
The Cochrane Review on Restricting oral fluid and food intake during labour (The Cochrane Collaboration publishes systematic reviews of current research on medical interventions. Their focus is on supporting evidence-based decisions in medical care.)
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary. Includes a section about routine restrictions on eating and drinking during labor.

back to categories

Epidural Anesthesia
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary. Includes a section about routine epidural use.
 
Medical Risks of Epidural Anesthesia During Childbirth: a paper by By Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., Ph.D.
and Morgaine Mehl-Madrona


back to categories

Episiotomy

 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary. Includes a section about routine episiotomy.

back to categories

Fetal Monitoring During Labor
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary. Includes a section about routine continuous electronic fetal monitoring (CEFM) and less interventive alternatives.


back to categories

Induction/Augmentation of Labor

 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #1: Let Labor Begin on Its Own
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary. Includes a section about routine augmentation of labor and artificial rupture of membranes (breaking the water).

back to categories

Labor Support
 
Childbirth Connection Review of Labor Support Research: includes information about the benefits and impact of labor support, and factors contributing to satisfaction with the experience of childbirth.
 
DONA International: What is a Doula?
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #3: Bring a Loved One, Friend, or Doula for Continuous Support

back to categories

Midwifery Care
 
Outcomes of planned home birth with registered midwife versus planned hospital birth with midwife or physician by Patricia A. Janssen, PhD, Lee Saxell, MA, Lesley A. Page, PhD, Michael C. Klein, MD, Robert M. Liston, MD and Shoo K. Lee, MBBS PhD

back to categories

Mother-Friendly and Evidence-Based Maternity Care
 
The Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI): Ten steps to making maternity care mother-friendly.
 
Evidence Basis for the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care in the Journal of Perinatal Education, 2007, Issue 16, a Special Supplement [PDF]: the result of a 2-year research project by a team of maternity care experts, this work reviews 15 years' worth of scientific studies and evidence supporting each aspect of the ten steps of Mother-Friendly Care.
 
Mother-Friendly Childbirth: Highlights of the Evidence [PDF]: a summary of the Evidence Basis document (above) that makes it possible to see at a glance the results of the research.
 
Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve, by Carol Sakala and Maureen P. Corry. Co-published by Childbirth Connection, the Reforming States Group, and the Milbank Memorial Fund, October 2008
 
Safe, Healthy Birth: What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know, by Judith A. Lothian, PhD, RN, LCCE, FACCE, published in the Journal of Perinatal Education
 
Healthy Birth Your Way video series from MothersAdvocate.org.

back to categories

Newborn Care
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #6: Keep Mother and Baby Together–It’s Best for Mother, Baby, and Breastfeeding

back to categories

Patient Rights: Informed Consent and Bodily Autonomy
 
ICAN's Legal Rights of the Pregnant Woman

back to categories

Positioning During Labor and Birth
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #2: Walk, Move Around, and Change Positions Throughout Labor
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #5: Avoid Giving Birth on the Back and Follow the Body’s Urges to Push

back to categories

Postpartum Care
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #6: Keep Mother and Baby Together–It’s Best for Mother, Baby, and Breastfeeding
 
Postpartum doulas: What is a Doula? from DONA International


back to categories

Pushing
 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #5: Avoid Giving Birth on the Back and Follow the Body’s Urges to Push
 
The "Rule of 10" versus Women's Primal Wisdom from Midwifery Today discusses the "rule of labor that forbids a woman to push with contractions until her cervix is completely dilated to 10 cm. Women are warned that to push before this doorway is completely open and out of the way will result in a swollen and/or torn cervix."


back to categories

Research Resources
 
Childbirth Connection: a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association. Their mission is to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy, and policy. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families.
 
Cochrane Collaboration Reviews of Pregnancy and Childbirth Research: the Cochrane Collaboration publishes systematic reviews of current research on medical interventions. Their focus is on supporting evidence-based decisions in medical care. Abstracts and summaries of these reviews are available free online.


back to categories

Rupture of Membranes (Breaking of Water)

 
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary. Includes a section about routine amniotomy (artificial rupture of membranes).


back to categories

Traumatic Birth Experiences and Unexpected Outcomes

PLEASE NOTE: We share this information as support for women who are dealing with birth trauma or painful outcomes. However, part of our mission is to help mothers, and especially pregnant women, surround themselves with supportive resources and positive ideas, so please consider skipping this section if you are currently anticipating a birth.

 
Nella Cordelia: A Birth Story. A mother's story of coming to terms with an unexpected birth outcome.

back to categories