Babble Australia » baby boom

The New Baby Boom

Madeline Holler — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:00:47 +0000

Did you have a baby in 2007? Probably. Because that year saw more births than ever recorded in American history, the New York Times reports. And yes, that’s more births than the post-war Baby Boom.

(Don’t blame Octomom — she only gave birth to one baby that year.)

Just how many babies are we talking about?There were 4,317,000 births in 2007, just slightly more than in 1957 which was the height of the baby boom, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

So who is having all these babies?

Well, teens for one. After years of decline, 2007 saw a rise in births for teen moms. Also, unmarried women are having a larger share of the babies born. Today, the average woman has 2.1 children.

Know what else hit a record high that year, despite talk of efforts to cut back the number? Ceasarean births. They made up 32 percent of all births, 2 percent more than the previous year.

Photo: timesonline.co.uk

After the War Zone, the Baby Zone

Kate Tuttle — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:30:10 +0000

According to an article in the New York Times, the army base at Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is experiencing a baby boom of unprecedented scope. The base is home to the 82nd airborne, division, some 22,000 troops who were deployed en masse in the Iraq "surge" — nine months after the soldiers began returning to their families, the surge was on at the local maternity ward. It's not just the 82nd; another nearly 30,000 soldiers also contributed to a flood of pregnancies that's swamping not only the hospital but also local businesses — apparently Target is selling out of cribs and the embroidery kiosk at the mall is all backed up doing camouflage nappy bags. Earlier this month, a mass baby shower was held to honor 1,000 soon-to-be mums at the base.

It's hard to imagine a more joyful, positive response to returning from the dangers and deprivations of warfare, and I wish all those babies and their families much joy. Still, for many of these newborns, especially those with both parents in the military, life might not be as rosy as we'd wish. New mothers only get six months off the deployment list after giving birth (this was recently increased from three months), after which they can be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan. Fathers can be sent at any time. For the parents and the children, such separation can be heartbreaking, the damage felt long after a parent returns home (and felt always, of course, if a parent does not come home).

A little birthday wish, then, from the non-military among us: may those new Ft. Bragg babies, born into two wars, come of age in a time of peace.

Independent Midwives The Answer To Cope With Baby Boom?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:00:07 +0000

Australian birth rates are booming, and to handle the demand, the federal government is looking to expand midwifery care, giving licensed midwives more access to insurance, prescribing rights, and ability to get paid through public health subsidies even if they aren't working directly under a doctor's supervision. The goals of the review will also include "how to cut medical interventions such as caesarean sections and forceps deliveries. Alternative birth options will also be examined, including the
possibility for more home births."

Australia has comparatively low levels of home births and other midwife-led births, with just 0.2% of women giving birth at home compared to 2.5% of women in New Zealand and 1.9% in Britain.

Photo by salimfadhley.