In the media
Professor Hannah Dahlen
Better healthcare needed for immigrant mothers-to-be
Seema Singh's doctor has told her to rest more before her baby is born.
Her third baby, due in late May, was a little under weight at her last ultrasound, around 2.2 kilograms. On Saturday, at her 37-week scan, she will find out whether her concerted effort to rest has made a difference.
''Everything is OK but the doctor said the baby was a little bit small,'' Mrs Singh said.
''Sometimes I feel I cannot get enough time to look after myself and to eat and rest,'' she said.
The Craigieburn mother of two boys said without family in Melbourne it was hard to find the time to rest. Her husband is a self-employed taxi driver who works 12-hour days, six days a week.
Mrs Singh was happy with the weights of her two older children, Kanwar, 10, born in India, and Uday, 5, born in Australia, who both weighed about 2.8 kilograms at full term.
A major study has compared the multicultural background of mothers and their birth outcomes.
Lead author of the study and midwifery expert Hannah Dahlen said researchers had looked at all women giving birth in New South Wales in an eight-year period until 2008.
Read more - Sydney Morning Hearald (opens in new window)
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Written by: Melissa Davey and Deborah Gough
Posted: May 17, 2013
Type: Online
Indian women in Aust receive more intervention during birth: study
Indian women living in Australia are more likely than other nationalities to receive medical interventions during their birth and more likely to give birth to an underweight baby, according to a recent study.
The research compared Australian-born women with the seven most-common migrant groups: New Zealand, England, China, Vietnam, Lebanon, Philippines and India.
It found Indian women were more likely to have caesarean section, use epidural pain killers, and use surgery, forceps or vacuum caps to assist with the birth.
It raises many questions about why these trends exist, whether they reflect the best interests of the mother and child and what hospitals should do to accommodate the wide range of medical and cultural factors that might be involved.
Listern to the full interview - ABC Radio Australia (opens in new window)
Source: ABC Radio
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speaker: Hannah Dahlen
Posted: May 20, 2013
Type: Radio Interview
Stand and deliver – upright births best for mum and bub
Think of childbirth and you’re likely to picture a woman lying on her back on a hospital bed. That’s the position most (78%) Australian women adopt to give birth birth, despite growing evidence that being upright to give birth can have better outcomes for the mother and baby.
Historical and anthropological literature shows that lying down for birth is a relatively modern phenomenon, as we have moved from a more social to a surgical model of care. As far back as written records, carvings and paintings go, women have given birth upright – whether it was using stacked bricks to create a primitive birthing stool or holding onto leaves and ropes hung from trees. A famous drawing from Egypt depicts Cleopatra (69-30 BC) kneeling to give birth.
Read more - The Conversation (opens in a new window)
Source: The Conversation
Written by: Professor Hannah Dahlen
Posted: May 7, 2013
Type: Online
Migrant women less likely to have unassisted birth: study
Some groups of migrant women in Australia are at a higher risk of medical interventions in childbirth that may lead to health problems for the mother or child, a new study has found.
Medical interventions include caesarean sections, use of epidural painkillers, episiotomies and use of instruments such as forceps or vacuum caps to assist with vaginal birth.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Western Sydney and published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, looked at all women giving birth in NSW between 2000 and 2008 and compared outcomes for women from the top seven migrant countries to women born in Australia.
Read more - The Conversation (opens in a new window)
Source: The Conversation
Written by: Professor Hannah Dahlen
Posted: May 6, 2013
Type: Online
Birth centre guidelines need changing: midwives
The national guidelines on where women should give birth are based on outdated beliefs that birth centres unattached to hospitals are dangerous rather than best-practice, a leading Sydney midwifery expert says.
Obstetric guidelines do not support birth centres located away from hospitals, which are available to healthy women at low risk of complications and led by midwives rather than doctors.
But the findings of a major US study released last week concluded that such centres were cost-effective and safe and should lead to the guidelines being revised, said an associate professor of midwifery at the University of Western Sydney, Hannah Dahlen.
''Anything that takes women and their midwives away from the proximity of a hospital makes obstetricians very nervous,'' Dr Dahlen said.
Read more - Sydney Morning Herald (opens in a new window)
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Written By: Melissa Davey
Posted: February 10, 2013
Type: Print
"Free birthing" on the rise despite danger warnings
The practice of "free birthing", where women give birth with no help from a qualified doctor or midwife, is on the increase despite its well-documented dangers.
To watch more - ABC (opens in a new window)
Source: ABC News 7.30 Victoria
Written By: Josie Taylor
Posted: February 8, 2013
Type: Television
Duration: 6min 29sec
Pregnancy challenges for overweight rural women
A recent study has found rural health services can't cope with the majority of local pregnant women, so where so they go?
The University of Melbourne research shows two thirds of pregnant women in Victoria's Goulburn Valley are overweight or obese, forcing small hospitals to turn them away.
This problem is likely to be mirrored across the country.
While transferring patients to bigger hospitals is a common option, there are fears that some women are opting to go it alone at home, or arriving at ill-equipped hospitals, already in labour.
To listen to the interview - ABC (opens in a new window)
Dr. Glyn Teale, Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and Clinical Services Director at Western Health, Melbourne; Professor Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, NSW.
Source: ABC Rural
Written By: Sonja Heydeman
Posted: February 5, 2013
Type: Radio
Duration: 14min 23sec
Concerns for overweight pregnant women
By Alyssa Allen
A recent study on six thousand Goulburn Valley pregnant women conducted by the University of Melbourne showed that two thirds of the women were significantly overweight, which heightened the health risks for both mother and baby during the birth process. Australian College of Midwives Professor, Hannah Dahlen, says pregnant women with a higher body mass get diabetes, blood pressure problems and give birth to larger babies.
To listen to the interview - ABC (opens in a new window)
Source: ABC Goulburn Murray
Written By: Alyssa Allen
Posted: January 21, 2013
Type: Radio
Duration: 4min 28sec
