MANA Statistics (JMWH, 2014)
5.2% C-section at home vs 32.5% nationally. 87% VBAC success.
16,924 US home births. 93.6% spontaneous vaginal birth. 5.2% C-section vs 32.5% nationally. VBAC success: 87%. 86% exclusively breastfeeding at 6 weeks.
The Midwives Alliance of North America runs a voluntary registry of US home births attended by certified professional midwives. The 2014 paper published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health analyzed 16,924 planned home births from the registry.
Outcomes: 93.6 percent of women had a spontaneous vaginal birth. The cesarean rate was 5.2 percent compared with the US national average of 32.5 percent. VBAC success at home was 87 percent.
At six weeks postpartum, 86 percent of mothers were exclusively breastfeeding. The registry data has limitations because participation is voluntary and selection effects can favor better-than-average outcomes, but the sample is large enough that the directional findings hold across multiple sensitivity analyses.
16,924
US planned home births
93.6%
Spontaneous vaginal birth
5.2%
Cesarean at home
87%
VBAC success rate
Why it matters
The US data, even with its sampling limitations, points the same direction as the international data. Planned home birth with a qualified midwife produces dramatically lower intervention rates than hospital birth.
This is one finding from the research library behind How to Birth a Mother. Everything here traces back to a study, a dataset, or a systematic review.