Links to websites of groups that study or provide information about labor and delivery.
- NICHD: Stages of Labor
Illustrated videos produced by NICHD explain the three stages of labor; the videos are also available in Spanish. - Is It Worth It?
The NICHD Is It Worth It? videos discuss the benefits of waiting until 39 weeks to deliver unless there is a medical need to deliver earlier. - Know Your Terms
The whole period from 37 to 42 weeks used to be called "term," but now it's divided into early term, full term, and late term. Know Your Terms explains the new designations. - American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
ACOG is an organization of health professionals providing health care for women. The ACOG website offers a list of resources for women and patients , including fact sheets on pain medications and how to tell when labor begins. Search the website for FAQs on labor, delivery, and postpartum care . ACOG also provides a directory of its member physicians. - Office on Women's Health (OWH)
OWH, an office of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provides a website for women with information on a variety of health topics, including labor and birth. - Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)
Part of the Health Resources & Services Administration, MCHB provides free and confidential access to trained counselors and resources through the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline. Callers can access support and information related to before, during, and after pregnancy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in English, Spanish, and more than 60 other languages. - Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN)
AWHONN promotes the health of women and newborns, works to strengthen the nursing profession, provides education and resources for health professionals, and offers information for healthy moms and babies. - March of Dimes
The March of Dimes supports efforts to help mothers have full-term pregnancies and to study the problems threatening the health of infants. The March of Dimes Pregnancy section features information on labor . - National Library of Medicine (NLM)
NLM's MedlinePlus is a website for patients that is managed by NIH. It includes information on many diseases and conditions. Find information on childbirth.
Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from NICHD, NIH, or HHS.
NICHD Resources
- Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch (PPB)
This branch supports research to improve the health of mothers and children by supporting research in several areas related to pregnancy, including labor and delivery.- The PPB supports the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units (MFMU) Network , which focuses on clinical questions in maternal-fetal medicine and obstetrics, particularly with respect to the continuing problem of preterm birth.
- The PPB also houses the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research , a partnership committed to improving maternal and infant health outcomes and building health research capacity in resource-poor settings by testing cost-effective, sustainable interventions.
- Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch (OPPTB)
The OPPTB supports research to increase understanding of safe and appropriate treatments for use during pregnancy. The Branch-funded Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics (MPRINT) Hub enables large-scale clinical trials of therapeutic drugs in pregnancy. - Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch (MPIDB)
The MPIDB focuses on understanding infectious and non-infectious complications of pregnancy, such as HIV, malaria, and Zika infection, as well as ways to treat and prevent transmission of these infections. The MPIDB supports large-scale research networks, such as the International Maternal, Pediatric, Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network, to better understand how HIV and other infections and their treatments affect pregnancy and delivery. - Population Dynamics Branch (PDB)
The PDB research addresses population-level factors that affect labor and delivery and well as trends in labor and delivery. - Division of Population Health Research (DiPHR)
DiPHR's research on labor and delivery includes the Consortium on Safe Labor, an observational study whose goals were to explore the underlying causes of the high cesarean delivery rate in the U.S. population, describe contemporary labor progression at the national level, and determine when is the most appropriate time to perform a cesarean delivery in women with labor protraction and arrest. Visit the DiPHR website for more information on its labor and delivery research. - Division of Intramural Research (DIR)
- Program in Perinatal Research and Obstetrics (PPRO)
The PPRO, within the DIR, conducts clinical and laboratory research on maternal and fetal diseases responsible for excessive infant mortality in the United States.
- Program in Perinatal Research and Obstetrics (PPRO)
- National Child and Maternal Health Education Program (NCMHEP)
- The Is it Worth It? initiative explains why it is best to wait until at least 39 weeks to deliver unless there is a medical reason to deliver earlier. The initiative provides information for health care providers, including a videotaped roundtable discussion with NICHD Deputy Director Dr. Catherine Spong.
- The Know Your Terms Initiative explains why the period from 37 to 42 weeks is now divided into early term, full term, and late term. More information is available on the health care providers page.
- The NCMHEP provides a forum for reviewing, translating, and disseminating new research in the field of maternal and child health. The program currently has two initiatives related to labor and delivery:
Other Resources
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
The ACOG website offers guidelines and committee opinions on labor and delivery (subscription may be required). - American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM)
ACNM provides position statements on labor that can be accessed through the online ACNM Library . - Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN)
The AWHONN website offers position statements and other professional resources , including publications and continuing nursing education on topics related to labor and delivery. - Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM)
The SMFM website offers clinical guidelines , including some related to labor and delivery. - Health and Medicine Division (HMD) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
The HMD's report Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention (2006) recommends a multidisciplinary research agenda aimed at improving the prediction and prevention of preterm labor and better understanding the health and developmental problems to which preterm infants are more vulnerable. - NIH Consensus Development Conferences Archive
For these conferences, independent panels of health professionals and public representatives prepared consensus and state-of-the-science statements based on results from a systematic literature review.
See NICHD's Preterm Labor and Birth topic for resources specific to preterm labor and delivery.
Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from NICHD, NIH, or HHS.
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