Caesarean births on the increase

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More mothers in Wales are having their babies by caesarean delivery than anywhere else in the UK.

A report, from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), shows that 23% of Welsh women have caesareans - 1.6% higher than the UK average.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) in Wales says it is because there are not enough midwives.

The RCM believes more one-on-one care for women would lead to an increase in natural births.

Through face to face interviews we have managed to find out about the start in life of nearly 19,000 babies

Professor Heather Joshi

Helen Rogers, Board Secretary of the RCM in Wales, told BBC Radio Wales: "We know that if midwives are able to provide one-to-one care, then the mother is likely to have a normal outcome."

The new study is the fourth in a series of internationally-renowned national birth studies that have followed the lives of babies born in 1946, 1958 and 1970.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned the Millennium Cohort Study to track the lives of 18,819 babies living in the UK.

It also found that babies born in Wales are the quickest on their feet in the UK.

By 10 months, 13.7% of Welsh babies can walk.

At the same age only 11.2% of babies born in Scotland can accomplish the same feat.

Professor Heather Joshi, who was involved in the study, said the information will be vital to policy makers.

"Through face-to-face interviews, we have managed to find out about the start in life of nearly 19,000 babies born during 2000 and 2001 in all four countries of the UK," she said.

The evidence assembled from the study be available to policy makers in fields of health, employment, childcare, housing and family policy, in all four countries of the UK, she said.