Houston, we have a problem. While many countries around the world are seeing a decrease in maternal mortality, we are seeing an alarming increase in the United States. The Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative seeks to improve the  health of mothers and babies holistically. Baby Friendly and Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiatives can be confusing, and this causes the terms to be misused interchangeably.  Here is a very simple explanation: Baby Friendly Policies that support breastfeeding and mother/baby bond (link here) Mother Friendly  Policies that support the normalcy of birth, the empowerment of women during pregnancy and birth, a woman’s autonomy, doing no harm, and responsibility in each sphere of care. Mother…

How does an imbalance of power in labor happen? It is pretty common in the birth world for women to ask if their care provider will “allow” them preferences. A few examples are: Will I be allowed: movement during labor and pushing to wait on spontaneous labor to begin until 42 weeks to eat and drink during labor intermittent monitoring Why is the difference in language between allowed and supported so important? Why does it matter? Support imparts dignity, and allow takes it away. Support humanizes. Allow dehumanizes. Support restores balance of power. Allow leads to imbalance of power in labor. When we use the language of “allowed”, it is…