The largest study of its kind has found that for low-risk women, giving birth at home is as safe as doing so in hospital with a midwife.
The research was carried out in the Netherlands after figures showed the country had one of the highest rates in Europe of babies dying during or just after birth. It was suggested that home births could be a factor, as Dutch women are able and encouraged to choose this option. One third do so.
Home births have long been debated amid concerns about their safety. But a comparison of "low-risk" women who planned to give birth at home with those who planned to give birth in hospital with a midwife found no difference in death or serious illness among either baby or mother.
