Alarming Mortality Rates for Premature Babies in Israel

To mark World Prematurity Day, the Israel Forum for Prematurity released a report on the care of premature babies in Israeli hospitals. Judy Siegel-Itzkovich summarized the findings for the Jerusalem Post, stating that "The death rate of premature babies in Israel remains twice as high as that in … [Read more...]

Tragedies Highlight Risks of Homebirth

Last week in Australia, Caroline Lovell, a home birth advocate. died the day after childbirth. Blogger Mia Freedman reports on the story and adds: When I went to look for information on the death of Janet Fraser’s baby during her freebirth, I found that all the threads on the freebirthing and … [Read more...]

Coping with a Pesach Baby

A reader is expecting a baby a day or two before Passover, and has always been a week early so far. Unlike most of us, she can't afford to be in denial. It's true we got an extra month this year (Jewish leap year) but Pesach is still creeping up on us. Maybe this will start your wheels turning. . … [Read more...]

Emotional Deficits, Matchmaking, Advocacy and More

I hope you'll enjoy today's collection of links. My good friend Anne, famous for taking the Burka pictures that got me started on the topic of hyper-tzniut, has begun her own blog for Israel advocacy known as Anne's Opinions.  Born in London, Anne has strong feelings about the British … [Read more...]

Birth, Death, Illness, and Breastfeeding

The other night I attended an evening of prayer and song for the recovery of Penina bat Shimona and her premature baby, Odeya Chana bat Penina. Please keep them in your prayers. At the evening I met a woman from my synagogue, who asked me what I do. When I said that I counsel breastfeeding … [Read more...]