Natural health & nutrition

www.westonaprice.org - Weston A. Price Foundation charity and website founded to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. It supports a number of movements including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labelling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies.

www.liverdoctor.com - Dr. Sandra Cabot’s website provides a wealth of information, advice and recommendations on how you can improve your liver function using powerful nutritional strategies.

www.h-e-c.com.au - Owen Homeopathics provides a retail range of homeopathic remedies and educational information especially designed to enable people to confidently use homeopathy for home prescribing.

www.foodmatters.tv/index.html - Website and documentary produced by nutritionists to provide solid information on nutrition and natural healing.

www.mercola.com - Dr. Joseph Mercola’s website, where you’ll find articles that touch on a variety of health issues, interviews with leading health experts, and active forums for you to share opinions and experiences with others.

www.thyroid.about.com - an extremely comprehensive and informative website about the thyroid gland.

Pregnancy & Birth information - Australia

www.bellybelly.com.au - A unique Australian family website, offering real-life, gentle solutions for conception, pregnancy, birth and baby, all in the one place. Forums with friendly, supportive members and fantastic professional support panel.

www.bubhub.com.au - Australia's most comprehensive online directory of local pregnancy and parenting information, shops and services; listing over 3,000 Australian businesses and organisations throughout Australia.

www.essentialbaby.com.au  - Australia's most active online parenting and family communities providing information and resources for conception, pregnancy, birth, parenting and beyond! EB also hosts one of Australia's largest women's forums - between 800-1000 online in regular daily periods.

www.sarahjbuckley.com - Dr Sarah Buckley brings together her medical training and her mothering wisdom in her wonderful new book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. She writes engaging, compassionate, and superbly researched material that will help you to make the most gentle, loving and best possible choices for your families.

www.simplybirth.com.au  - The La Bassine Birth Pool is a must for any woman wanting to experience labour or birth in water, because every woman has the right to a fabulous birthing experience. Comprehensive information re waterbirth.

www.maternitycoalition.org.au - A national non-profit, non-political and non-sectarian consumer advocacy organisation. MC acts as an umbrella organisation to bring together support groups and individuals for effective lobbying, information sharing, networking and support in maternity services. Mothers and midwives working together for better maternity care in Australia. Please join!

Pregnancy & Birth Information – International

www.hencigoer.com - Medical writer and birth activist Henci Goer gives clear, concise information based on the latest medical studies. Check out the info about labour interventions, including episiotomy, under 'birth guru'.

www.birthworks.org/odent.html - Michael Odent has been instrumental in influencing the history of childbirth and health research, focusing upon the long-term consequences of early experiences. An overview of his Primal Health Research Data Bank indicates that health is shaped during the primal period (from conception to first birthday).

www.sheilakitzinger.com - Explores aspects of birth, drawing on things that Sheila has learned from women around the world and her research as a social anthropologist into women's experiences of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.

www.waterbirth.org - Informative articles about the advantages of birthing in water.

Homebirth – Australia

www.joyousbirth.info  - A group of Australian homebirthers, midwives, birth attendants and doulas, providing support, sharing knowledge, experience and the company of those who believe in gentle birth.

www.homebirthaustralia.org - A group of consumers and midwives committed to ensuring the survival of homebirth as a birth option for Australian women, with the overall aim of public funded homebirth across the country.

www.homebirthaccesssydney.com.au – (NSW) Lots of information on homebirth and empowered, natural birthing.

www.homebirth.org - (QLD) A group of mothers, midwives and their families working towards real choice in childbirth, viewing birth as a "family" rather than a "medical" experience and event in one’s life, and celebrates babies' "births" rather than "deliveries".

www.homebirthsa.org.au  - (SA) A network of people in the community who consider homebirth a safe and natural way of birthing. They insist on the rights of women to choose how and where they birth their babies, and believe this is a fundamental right for all women, especially in a time when birth is becoming increasingly medically managed, and women's birthing power is diminished.

www.cmwa.net.au - (WA) Community Midwifery, Western Australia.  Their vision is that woman-centred, community-based midwifery services, including homebirth, be available to all women across Western Australia. Information on government funded homebirth program.

www.purebirth-australia.com - Resources and support for women considering an unassisted pregnancy or homebirth in Australia. Freebirth is a valid birthing choice for many women, yet most are unaware of this birth option. Information on obtaining birth certificates, maternity payments, lotus birth, solo freebirth, handling bleeding at home and other childbirth complications. Australian unassisted childbirth stories, photos and forums also available.

www.maternitycoalition.org.au/mippslist.html - A list of independent midwives. Some of which have their own websites, where you will find information about their services, birth stories and other useful links.

Homebirth – International

www.homebirth.org.uk - A UK based reference site. Research based evidence about the safety of homebirth, information and support.

www.ucbirth.com - The Unassisted Childbirth Page, a site dedicated to the belief that women are the true experts of birth. Birth is sexual and spiritual, magical and miraculous - articles and stories on this site to help women to cast off their fears and begin to believe in their own abilities. Especially inspiring part of the site: Childbirth Ecstasy by Laura Shanley.

Informed Choice

What does evidence-based maternity care mean?
“Evidence-based maternity care” means using the best research about the safety and effectiveness of specific tests, treatments, and other interventions to help guide maternity care decisions.

www.maternitywise.org/home.html - Website of the UK initiative from the Maternity Center Association to promote evidence-based maternity care. Also features an online copy of ‘A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth’, Enkin et al.(2000), which details the ‘gold standard’ in evidence based maternity care.

www.maternitycoalition.org.au/home/modules/education/index.php?id=6 - Infosheets are designed to assist women to question and communicate with their caregivers, and make informed decisions about their maternity care. This will help to ensure that the care offered is appropriate for the woman, her pregnancy, her goals and her individual circumstances

www.infochoice.org - A comprehensive set of 21 leaflets providing information about key decisions facing parents during pregnancy, birth and afterwards.

Doulas – Australia

www.findadoula.com.au - directory of childbirth support partners (doulas).

www.australiadoulascom.au - Western Australia doula directory

www.doularegister.com - national and international doula directory

Lotus Birth

www.lotusbirth.com - Lotus birth is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord uncut so that the baby remains attached to the placenta until the cord naturally separates at the navel, exactly as a cut cord does 3-10 days after birth.  

www.placentabenefits.info - Placental history, rituals and placentophagy.

Fetal positioning

www.spinningbabies.com - Information about baby’s positions in utero (including breech) the affect on labour/birth for mother and baby, with techniques for pregnancy and labour to encourage the optimal position.

www.birthspirit.co.nz - Inspirational site about vaginal breech birth and home birth.

Caesarean Birth

http://www.birthrites.edsite.com.au - Birthrites aims to provide a support network for women who’ve had a previous c/section(s), and to increase the awareness of these women’s needs to their health-carers within the medical profession.  A great Australian resource site.

http://www.victoriousbirth.com - After a caesarean or a traumatic birth experience, many women feel disappointed or depressed. This site aims to help women heal and to share information that may help in this journey.

http://www.radmid.demon.co.uk/csgood.htm - Information for how to plan a good caesarean birth.

http://www.ican-online.org – Resources and support for women planning a vaginal birth after a caesarean.

Breastfeeding

www.breastfeeding.asn.au - The website of the Australian Breastfeeding Association. A great Australian resource site.

www.lalecheleague.org - The website of the La Leche League, who provide mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education.

www.naturalparenting.com.au - An Australia wide network of families and professionals aiming to support, educate and celebrate the diversity of natural choices available to families as they journey their way through pregnancy, birth and ongoing parenthood.

www.pinky-mychild.com - Pinky McKay’s website, with information, resources and great links for new parents.

www.alternativebaby.net - Attachment, instinctive, conscious and informed parenting information and support.

www.attachmentparenting.org - Attachment Parenting International (API).  The mission of API is to promote parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. API believes these practices nurture and fulfill a child's need for trust, empathy and affection, providing a lifelong foundation for healthy, enduring relationships.

www.awareparenting.com - Aletha Solter’s website.  Aware Parenting (AP) is a philosophy of child-rearing that has the potential to change the world. Based on cutting-edge research and insights in child development, AP questions most traditional assumptions about raising children, and proposes a new approach that can profoundly shift a parent's relationship with his or her child. Parents who follow this approach raise children who are bright, compassionate, competent, nonviolent, and drug free.

www.naturalchild.org - The Natural Child project vision is a world in which all children are treated with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion. In such a world, every child can grow into adulthood with a generous capacity for love and trust. Our society has no more urgent task.

www.kindredmedia.com.au – Kindred is the worlds first and only sustainable family living and natural parenting magazine.  Founded in 2002, and formerly known as ‘byronchild’, Kindred is committed to supporting parents create a more sustainable, just and child-friendly world.

www.essentialbaby.com – Australia’s busiest online parenting community. Includes a forum for Australian homebirthers.

www.bbf.org.au - The Bonnie Babes Foundation supports families who have experienced pregnancy loss. It provides medical research, training of grief counsellors, a 24-hour national counselling line in USA and Australia, downloadable booklets and more.

www.perinatalhospice.org - Support for parents opting to continue a pregnancy when their baby has a terminal prenatal diagnosis.

www.avn.org.au - Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) urges you to investigate before you vaccinate.  The AVN is working to help parents take back the right to free and informed choice by allowing them to see both sides of this issue before making a decision.

www.909shot.com - The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is the oldest and largest national organisation advocating reformation of the mass vaccination system.  NVIC is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the right to informed consent to vaccination.

Circumcision

www.circinfo.org - provides up to date and accurate information about the medical, legal, ethical, cultural and historical aspects of male and female circumcision.

Natural baby products

www.natureschild.com.au

www.naturebaby.co.nz 

www.purespa.com.au

Resources

www.birthinternational.com - Birth International online store; books, DVD’s, products for pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting

www.capersbookstore.com.au  - Capers bookstore; books, DVD’s, products for pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting