Should you use ‘vaginal seeding’ if your baby is born by caesarean?

Some parents are embracing the emerging process of replenishing newborns with lost bacteria – but doctors are warning against it

It’s fine to talk about your abortion – but don’t mention your elective caesarean

The ‘normal birth’ campaign may have come to an end, but ‘natural’ childbirth is still seen as the ideal by far too many

Severe birth trauma has left me terrified of having another child

Normally associated with soldiers, post-traumatic stress disorder affects 20,000 new mothers in the UK each year

It’s too late for my son, but the end of the campaign for ‘normal birth’ is welcome

The Royal College of Midwives has abandoned the ideology that may have contributed to many deaths, including that of my son, says patient safety campaigner James Titcombe

The Observer view on best medical practice for pregnant women

The ideal birth is the one that is safest for mother and baby

Midwives to end campaign to promote ‘normal births’

Official body calls for shift in language and approach in attempt to stop making mothers feel like failures

NHS maternity wards in England forced to close 382 times last year

Figures obtained by Labour reveal ‘appalling’ treatment of women, largely due to staff shortages and lack of beds and cots

Don’t infantilise pregnant women. Tell them how tough breastfeeding can be

Of course British attitudes need to change, but let’s be honest, telling women about how wondrous breastfeeding can be is to tell only half the story, writes Guardian journalist Lizzie Davies

I had an emergency caesarean and now I’m terrified of sex

I gave birth eight months ago after surgery and am scared that intimacy with my partner will cause the wound to split open

‘Midwifery is a calling, not just a profession’: childbirth stories around the world

Midwives provide vital, often life-saving support to women and babies during delivery. From Bangladesh to Rwanda, Canada to Malawi, mothers share their experiences of care in childbirth