Jan Tritten is the founder, editor, and mother of Midwifery Today magazine and conferences. Her love for and study of midwifery sprang from the beautiful homebirth of her second daughter—after a disappointing, medicalized first birth in the hospital. After giving birth at home, she kept studying birth books because, “she thought there was something more here.” She became a homebirth midwife in 1977 and continued helping moms who wanted a better birth experience. Jan started Midwifery Today in 1986 to spread the good word about midwifery care, using her experience to guide editorial and conferences. Her mission is to make loving midwifery care the norm for birthing women and their babies in the United States and around the world. Meet Jan at our conferences around the world!
Jan’s recent experience at the Baker Creek Heirloom Festival in Santa Rosa, California, gave her a whole new appreciation of what some are doing to help change the world of food for the better. Her experience caused her to ponder things in the birth world movement; her musings are found in this article. Read more…. Midwifing a Movement
Photo by Karen Abeyasekere
Nutrition is a huge factor in the prevention of prematurity, but that does not seem to be known by the medical model practitioners. A healthy diet is the most important factor in having a healthy baby! Read more…. Prematurity Is Preventable
Photo by Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos
Marsden Wagner with Midwifery Today conference attendees
The world lost a treasure earlier this year, but his passion and kindness will forever remain in our hearts. This tribute contains memories, stories and thoughts about Marsden from some of his midwife friends. Read more…. In Memory of Marsden Wagner – A Friend to Midwives, 1930–2014
…now I am learning that homebirth is even more important than I ever thought it was. New microbiome research is teaching us that how and where we are born is crucial and even life-altering. Our birth literally sets the foundation for our health and well-being or lack of it. Read more…. Homebirth and the Microbiome
Midwifery Today mother Jan Tritten shares her thoughts on the third stage and how it isn’t such a good idea for this part of birth to be routinely managed. Read more…. Routine Active Management of the Third Stage
Photo by Teresa Fox Magri
Editor-in-Chief, Jan Tritten, invited her cousin to give a tutorial on creating an umbilical cord memento. Read more…. Umbilical Cord Mementos
Editor-in-chief Jan Tritten reminds us to not simple follow culture, but to use right practices when we are dealing with motherbaby Read more…. Changing Birth Practices
[We are] concerned with the need for midwives to reclaim breech, twin and VBAC births. It is important that midwives gain the skills, experience and knowledge necessary to safely assist these births. Most doctors have lost knowledge of vaginal breech birth by allowing their few skills to get rusty … Read more…. Thoughts about Breech Birth
Editor-in-Chief Jan Tritten shares her thoughts on hemorrhage. “The most important thing I can say about hemorrhage is, ‘Don’t cause one.’” Read more…. First, Do No Harm
Editor-in-Chief Jan Tritten shares her thoughts on making the rights of the baby a part of the “Birth Is a Human Right” initiative. Read more…. Babies Have Rights, Too
My first experience with shoulder dystocia was thankfully informed by something I read in the newsletter/magazine that The Farm was publishing at the time (1976). In the article, Ina May explained what is now known as the Gaskin Maneuver. Read more…. Never, Never, Never Give Up
The fourth stage of labor is defined as the first hour or two after birth. I think we should redefine it as birth to twenty-one years of age, or maybe for the lifetime of the child. The issues never end once you are a parent. Read more…. Fourth Stage of Labor and Midwifery
