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American College of Nurse-Midwives (www.midwife.org) This official site of the ACNM includes information about what midwifery is, how to find or become a midwife, and health advocacy affecting midwifery, as well as resources on pregnancy, birth and women’s health.
Center for Midwifery, College of Nursing, University of Rhode Island (www.uri.edu/nursing/programs/msmidwife.html) The University of Rhode Island and Memorial Hospital have collaborated to bring the best of academic nursing and primary care to develop the Center for Midwifery - offering a graduate Masters program with a major in Nurse-Midwifery. The Center serves as a setting to provide full scope midwifery services for women in Rhode Island, an educational setting for future midwives, and a backdrop for research on the care that midwives provide and the outcomes they achieve.
ACNM Certification Council, Inc. (accmidwife.org) At this site, consumers can verify the active status of a midwife or nurse-midwife certified by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Information for CNMs about certificate maintenance.
Midwifery Today (www.midwiferytoday.com) The official site of the magazine, Midwifery Today, specializes in information about non-interventionist midwifery, becoming or finding a midwife, pregnancy, birth and parenting. Resources include publications, educational aids, articles, FAQs, forums and a free weekly electronic newsletter.
Birth Seekers (members.aol.com/doula2care/BirthSeekers.html) This site offers a supportive environment and mailing list for midwives, doulas, childbirth educators and other birth professionals who are themselves infertility patients.
Midwives Information and Resource Service (www.midirs.org) An educational nonprofit organization in England seeks to improve maternity care by disseminating information to midwives related to childbirth. The site includes publications and services, database searches, email updates and electronic midwifery news for members.
Massachusetts Nurse-Midwives (www.nursemidwivesinmass.org) This website of the Massachusetts chapter of the ACNM includes practice locators and information about midwifery.
Citizens for Midwifery (www.cfmidwifery.org) The CfM, a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization, promotes the Midwifery Model of Care as optimal care for pregnancy and birth. The site offers resources; membership includes a quarterly newsletter.
Midwives’ Alliance of North America (www.mana.org) MANA is an advocacy organization whose mission is to promote midwfery as a quality health care option for families. The website includes booklists, information about MANA conferences, and references on homebirth.
A Midwife’s Tale (www.dohistory.com) Fascinating story of the research for the book and film based on midwife/healer Martha Ballard’s diary from the 18th century.
Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) (www.motherfriendly.org) was organized to promote the wellness model of maternity care in order to improve birth outcomes and reduce cost. The useful article, “Having a Baby? Ten Questions to Ask,” can help to determine if a birthplace is mother-friendly.
Pregnancy, Childbirth and Postpartum
Ask NOAH about Pregnancy (www.noah-health.org/english/pregnancy/pregnancy.html) The New York Online Access to Health site provides health information in both English and Spanish, geared toward consumers. An excellent site, easy to navigate, with extensive information about everything from contraception and family planning, through fetal development and testing, prenatal care and pregnancy fitness to childbirth and postpartum. To link directly to Spanish language pages, use (www.noah-health.org/spanish/pregnancy/sppregnancy.html).
Childbirth.org (www.childbirth.org) Comprehensive consumer-friendly website with information on everything from baby names to fertility, labor, pregnancy and postpartum issues. Includes message boards, bookstore, and resource links.
Online Birth Center (www.moonlily.com/obc) Inclusive website with articles, information about midwifery, child and family safety, breastfeeding, and nutrition. Parents page and links.
Sabrina’s Pregnancy Page (www.fensende.com/Users/swnymph) is an excellent website designed and maintained by Sabrina Cuddy, a childbirth educator, doula and MPH in Community Health Education. There are useful links and resource lists on pregnancy, parenting and breastfeeding.
Prevent Birth Defects (www.modimes.org/Programs2/FolicAcid/Palmcard.htm) Fact sheet from the March of Dimes website explains how taking folic acid (a B Vitamin) daily can help to prevent birth defects.
Weekly Guide to Pregnancy (www.pregnancyguideonline.com) Storknet’s week-by-week guide to pregnancy, including information about fetal development, chat rooms and other resources to help pregnant families get connected.
The Visible Embryo (www.visembryo.com) Offering detailed pictorial accounts of both normal and abnormal births, this site is maintained by the University of California Medical Center as a resource of information on human development from conception to birth. A paid subscription offers more online updates, games, new findings, and more extensive information.
The First 9 Months (www.pregnancycalendar.com/first9months) A multimedia presentation from the father’s point of view.
Pregnancy Tests and Testing (www.parentsplace.com/expert/midwife/tests/) This part of the iVillage (“The Women’s Network”) website offers clear information about tests offered or required during pregnancy, as well as other information about pregnancy and parenting.
Exercise in Pregnancy (www.pvc.maricopa.edu/fitness/preg.html) Paradise Valley Community College Fitness Center offers fast facts about exercise in pregnancy, as well as clear descriptions with photos for safe exercises to improve both strength and flexibility.
Childbirth Education (www.geocities.com/HotSprings/9947/) This site offers comparisons of five of the best-known childbirth education organizations, with links to their websites to find out more. ALACE, Birthworks®, Bradley Method® (AAHCC), ICEA and ASPO/Lamaze are all represented.
Doulas of North America (www.dona.org) DONA is an international association of women trained to provide labor support to birthing women and their families. The site includes information on finding or becoming a doula, news and articles, a bookstore and boutique.
Pregnancy Clinical Practice Guidelines (www.medicine.ucsf.edu/resources) The University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, maintains this site which provides links to primary care practice guidelines and medical journal citations. Primarily for the health care professional.
Ask NOAH about Women’s Health (www.noah-health.org/english/wellness/healthyliving/womenshealth.html) The New York Online Access to Health site provides extensive health information, beautifully organized in both English and Spanish, geared toward consumers. To link directly to Spanish language pages, use (www.noah-ealth.org/spanish/wellness/healthyliving/sppersonalhealthwomen.html).
National Women’s Health Information Center (www.4woman.gov) This website was designed by the Office on Women’s Health (a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), to provide consumer information specific to women and includes recent news, information in Spanish, and excellent resources.
National Women’s Health Resource Center (www.healthywomen.org) The NWHRC is a noprofit national clearinghouse for women’s health information. The website includes discussion groups, and a bookstore as well as articles, news, links and other resources.
Woman 2 Woman (www.gtweb.com/woman2woman) This quarterly online newsletter edited by a CNM presents articles on a wide variety of topics.
Women’s Health Interactive (www.womens-health.com) A consumer-oriented site with lots of articles about women’s health issues, as well as discussion groups, a bookstore and a place to shop for vitamins and insurance.
Women at Midlife (www.power-surge.com) This site is a networking community for women entering perimenopause and menopause. The website is visually interesting and includes information about hormone replacement therapy and its alternatives, health issues for the older woman, and chat rooms and guest conferences with medical experts.
Menopause Resource Guide (www.4woman.gov/owh/pub/menoguide.htm) This part of the website maintained by the federal government’s Office on Women’s Health has an extensive resource guide listing government agencies, organizations, newsletters, magazines, reports and books that offer information specifically geared to menopause and health issues for older women. It also has online publications (some available in Spanish) on diverse topics.
About Puberty (www.kotex.com) Kimberly-Clark designed this site, and they promote the Kotex product line, but it’s also a great site for teenagers to learn about their changing bodies and menstruation, or for parents to find information on how to talk to their children about puberty.
Black Women (www.blackliving.com) This site is a networking community that specifically addresses the concerns of black women, including information about health issues.
Resolve: The National Infertility Association (www.resolve.org) This site includes information from articles published by Resolve and links to local chapter websites and nonprofit organizations that provide adoption and healthcare advocacy services.
FertilityPlus (www.fertilityplus.org) Written “by patients for patients,” this site is geared toward the consumer seeking information about how to conceive. Easy to navigate, the website includes FAQs, resource links and glossaries of terms.
INCIID: Infertility Information (www.inciid.org) The InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination maintains this website, which includes recent news and other information related to infertility, stories of families, and a directory of fertility industry professionals.
National Cervical Cancer Coalition (www.nccc-online.org) This is the site of a grassroots organization involved in prevention, outreach and education about issues around cervical cancer, as well as support for women battling cervical cancer.
Heathfinder (www.healthfinder.gov) This website is a gateway to a range of consumer health information, including the latest health news, hot topics, and information about prevention and self-care. Maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it provides excellent links to online resources as well as the addresses and phone numbers of many organizations involved in health and disease issues.
Internet Health Resources (www.health-library.com) Health-library is a comprehensive health-related search engine for health resources on the web.
Health Hotlines (sis.nlm.nih.gov/hotlines/) The National Library of Medicine maintains this online database of health-related organizations operating toll-free telephone services, including information and publications available in Spanish.
National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov) This site includes information about the NIH and its resources, including publications, clinical trials, health hotlines, and medical literature references such as MEDLINE Plus.
MEDLINEPlus (www.nlm.nih.gov) The National Library of Medicine offers this free access to MEDLINE, its database of medical journals for information on diseases, conditions, wellness issues, and drug information. Also available at this NIH site is information about research programs, the latest health news and other library services.
Combined Health Information Database (chid.nih.gov) This site offers a bibliographic database provided by health-related agencies of the federal government. It includes health promotional and educational materials, and program descriptions, mostly for health professionals, but has some material intended for the general public. Topics include maternal and child health, complementary and alternative medicine, and prenatal smoking cessation.
Evidence-Based Medicine (www.ahcpr.gov) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality established this website primarily for health professionals seeking evidence-based information on health care outcomes, quality and cost, use and access. Some materials are designed for the consumer, including some in Spanish.
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding.com (www.breastfeeding.com) This consumer-friendly and comprehensive website has a clear layout and is also accessible through (www.nursingmother.com). It includes information and articles, message boards, chat lines, a directory of Lactation Consultants, video clips about positioning the baby, a Breastfeeding Answer Center, products, electronic newsletter and links to shopping sites for new parents.
La Leche League International (www.lalecheleague.org) The official site of LLLI contains wonderful FAQs and articles about breastfeeding, online chat rooms, a Help forum, information about the history of the organization, how to find a local support group or become a leader, book and product information, and a searchable database of breastfeeding journal references. Some information in Spanish and Italian.
LLLI Center for Breastfeeding Information (www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/CBI.html) This free searchable online database of bibliographic information about breastfeeding offers access to more than 15,000 journal articles and books. Step-by-step instructions on how to conduct an effective search.
Zelda’s Breastfeeding Page (geocities.com/Athens/5262/bfeed.htm) This website offers support, empathy, information and many personal stories of breastfeeding challenges, failures, successes and joys. Links to an online “ring” of breastfeeding websites.
Parenting
Parent Soup (www.parentsoup.com) This site, a part of iVillage, is comprehensive, well organized, and easy to navigate and search. It has information from preconception through parenting teens, including a great online guide to the best websites for parents and children, and parent-to-parent advice boards, videos and articles on a wide variety of topics.
Parents Place (www.parentsplace.com) This site is also a part of iVillage and is similar to Parent Soup, above.
Parenthood Web (www.parenthoodweb.com) This is an interesting site that links to a many related websites with information about pregnancy and parenting. Easy to navigate, one great feature is an up-to-date calendar of events from the local (Rhode Island) Parents’ Paper. It also includes library bookstore, message boards, chat rooms, and advice.
ABC Parenting (www.abcparenting.com) This is a great network of links and resources, easy to navigate and including topics such as pregnancy fitness, nutrition and breastfeeding, infant behavior, motherhood and fatherhood, child care, family financing and women’s health.
Parenting Resources for the 21st Century (www.parenting resources.ncjrs.org) This federally sponsored site is a joint initiative of nine participating Federal agencies and offices, designed as an online guide with excellent links to help families meet the special challenges of raising a child today. It includes information about child development and education, home schooling and the juvenile justice system.
Stork Net (www.storknet.org) This site bills itself as “the friendliest pregnancy and parenting community online.” It includes the Ask a Midwife and Ask a Lactation Consultant Forums, extensive links and web rings, bulletin boards, chat rooms and personal journals.
Midlife Mommies (www.midlifemommies.com) Designed to support the unique group of women whose concerns may include elderly parent, secondary infertility, midlife health and approaching menopause as well as pregnancy and parenting. Includes news and articles, financial advice, message boards, personal stories, links and other resources.
At Home Mothers (www.athomemothers.com) The mission of this site is to offer practical information, inspiration, services, support and encouragement to mothers who choose to stay at home to take care of their children. Includes articles from the magazine, electronic newsletter, personal stories, advice, bookstore and other resources.
BabyServ (www.babyserv.com) This site is part of LifeServ, a network of websites designed to help people plan for major life events, such as having a baby.
Parents Helping Parents – The Family Resource Center (www.php.org) The mission of the organization that maintains this site is to help children with a myriad of special needs (including ADD, FAS, severe illness and Down syndrome) through parents helping parents. Includes support groups, library and other resources, newsletters and information about special education.
BabyCenter (www.babycenter.com) Johnson & Johnson owns this website, which is designed for consumers interested in topics from preconception through toddlerhood. Includes chatrooms, bulletin boards, advice columns and online baby announcements.
Child Care Resources (nrc.uchsc.edu/) The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care, located at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, maintains this site. It is funded by the United States Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and includes research and information about child care for infants and children, and resources for how to find and evaluate different types of child care.
Babysitter & Other Parenting Checklists (www.myparentime.com) This site, hosted by Working Woman and Parents Magazine, offers useful printable checklists and charts including baby’s layette, first foods, and a checklist for the babysitter. Other resources include information about pregnancy and parenting, chat rooms and membership in an online magazine. (CAUTION: this site will open in a separate window - you will not be able to hit the "Back" button in your browser to return to this RI Chapter site! You will need to re-enter our URL to return.)
AboutSmiles (www.aboutsmiles.org/start.htm) Information on fostering good oral health from birth is presented in this consumer-friendly website designed by Dr. Fred S. Ferguson, a provider of oral health care and health educator. Excellent resource list.
