As more women birth at home, the more their peers and families will be exposed, the more ‘normal’ it will become.  Only 1% of births occur at home in the USA.

Across the UK in 2006, 18,953 of all births (741,952) took place at home, compared with 17,277 in 2005. This is an encouraging rise of 9.7% overall, but still only represents 2.5% of all UK births.

The biggest increase – more than 10% – has been in England, where 16,923 women had a home birth.

Scotland shows the second highest rise in the number of home births (762) with an increase of 9.2%. Wales has fallen behind with the smallest increase in home births (1177) – 0.9% – despite having the fastest growing home birth rate in the UK for 2005.

Mary Newburn, Head of Policy Research, NCT, said; "It’s very pleasing to see that home birth rates are on the increase, allowing women and their partners greater choice. However, many women around the UK still find it difficult to access a home birth. There is a lack of balanced information available to enable them to make an informed choice about where to have their baby. Low midwifery staffing levels mean that too often the option of a home birth is either not being offered or services end up being withdrawn at short notice."

Read the entire article here.