Hide your birthing tubs--it's time for the SQUAT news round-up!

The Food and Drug Administration seized a shipment of Aquaborn birthing tubs in a Portland, OR, dock, claiming the tubs are unauthorized medical equipment, and have ordered FDA agents to search and destroy the tubs. Barbara Harper, author of Gentle Birth Choices and founder of Waterbirth International, had a conversation with an FDA official in which she was told, “Pregnancy is an illness and birth is a medical event. Therefore, a pool that a woman gives birth in should be classified as medical equipment.” Laurel Ripple-Carpenter, a frequent SQUAT contributor, has a full report on her blog here.

Catherine Ferguson Academy students and supporter

SQUAT has been following the trials of the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a Detroit school for teen mothers and pregnant girls, since the state announced the school would be closed due to budget cuts. Students and school supporters have been voicing their support for the school, and staged a sit-in in May. The Detroit Public Schools announced this week a change to the school consolidation and closure plan, yet the future of the school is still unclear. Stay tuned to SQUAT to learn more about the incredible work of CFA in the upcoming issue of SQUAT, due out in late June. You can contact the superintendent of Detroit schools to show your support for CFA: 14th Floor, Fisher Building, 3011 West Grand Blvd. Detroit, MI 48202. Or call (313) 870-3772.

Over 200 people gathered in Forrest Park, Georgia, to protest a new county law that prohibits breastfeeding toddlers over 2 years old in public. Dozens of women nursed their children in the nurse-in to protest the ordinance, which was enacted to reduce public nudity.

Breastfeeding moms and their supporters gather in Forrest Park, GA. 

(FoxNews)

The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) annual meeting is underway in San Antonia, TX. Up for discussion at the meeting is a proposal to change the ACNM’s name to the American College of Midwives. See our previous blog post to get some context and opinion on this proposal, and download a marketing report (which recommends keeping the current name), at the ACNM web site.

Breastfeeding mothers show different brain activity than those who are formula feeding, according to a study by the National Institute for Mental Health. According to the study, the brains of breast-feeding mothers show a greater response to the sound of their babies' cries than do the brains of mothers who do not breastfeed. The results suggest this brain activity facilitates greater sensitivity from the mother toward her infant as the baby begins to socially interact with the world, the researchers say.