INFANT CIRCUMCISION
We believe every baby deserves to begin life with their body whole and undisturbed unless an intervention is medically necessary. Research does not support routine circumcision as a medical requirement, and the procedure is not without pain, risk, or long-term implications. For many families, choosing to keep their baby intact aligns with their values of gentleness, natural development, and respecting a child’s right to make decisions about their own body later in life.
At the same time, we recognize that circumcision is a culturally and religiously significant ritual for some families. If circumcision is important for your faith tradition or personal beliefs, we fully respect that choice. While we do not perform the procedure, we can connect you with practitioners who specialize in newborn circumcision and who approach the process with skill and reverence.
Read the excerpt from Gentle Baby Care by Elizabeth Pantley that supports our view of circumcision here.
Foreskins for Keeps—An Idea Whose Time Has Come
by Gloria Lemay, CPM
This article offers a personal and professional reflection from a longtime midwife on the ethics of routine infant circumcision. Drawing from lived experience, historical context, and advocacy within the midwifery community, Lemay invites readers to consider bodily integrity, consent, and the role of caregivers in protecting newborns from unnecessary intervention.
Oral Vitamin K
This resource reviews the role of vitamin K in newborns and outlines what is currently known about oral supplementation. It explains why babies are born with low vitamin K levels, how deficiency can lead to vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), and how different dosing methods compare in effectiveness. The article makes it clear that oral vitamin K can be effective when given in repeated doses over time, while a single oral dose is not sufficient for ongoing protection, especially for exclusively breastfed infants. This information is provided so families choosing oral vitamin K understand the research, dosing requirements, and limitations involved.
Delayed Umbilical Cord Clamping Boosts Iron in Infants
ScienceDaily summary of research by Kathryn Dewey, PhD & Camila Chaparro, MS (UC Davis), published in The Lancet
This article summarizes research demonstrating that delaying umbilical cord clamping for just two minutes significantly improves infant iron stores for at least the first six months of life, with no identified harm to mother or baby. The findings directly challenge the long-standing practice of immediate cord clamping, a routine that became standard without strong scientific justification. This resource supports delayed cord clamping as a simple, low-cost, physiology-respecting practice that meaningfully improves neonatal outcomes—particularly for babies already at higher risk of iron deficiency.