5 Best Cities to Have a Baby

Karen Murphy — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:09:00 GMT

Say you're pregnant (or want to become pregnant), have unlimited funds and flexibility, and want to move to the U.S. city best suited for your and your baby's new lifestyle. What city would you pick? Fit Pregnancy spoke to The Today Show about their findings of a review of the 50 most populous cities in the country, and how they stacked up in terms of health care, safety, child care, affordability, birthing options, and fertility laws. Who made the list?

1. Boston. Awesome healthcare, and definitely the place to be if you need specialized prenatal care (and I hope you don't). Plus Boston has the best chowdah anywheah.

2. San Francisco. Well, duh. A healthy lifestyle makes for a healthy baby, plus it has high breastfeeding rates and is chock-full of fertility specialists. And the fried calamari? Yum.

3. Minneapolis. Three times the national average for the number of child-care providers? Wow! Plus it has lot of fertility clinics, specialty birthing options, and midwives and doulas. Something for everyone! And don't mind the cold in winter: there's a cool network of above-street Habitrail-style walkways that can get you all over downtown without setting foot in icy slush.

4. Portland. It's all about the nunnies, as we say in my house. Yeah, that. Breastfeeding. Portland's got the highest rate in the nation. Woot! And is jam-packed with midwives and doulas-a-plenty. If you have alternative leanings? Sounds like this is the place to be.

5. Omaha. Er, Omaha? That's in Nebraska, right? Well, I hear they have great steaks. Also? Affordable housing, access to daycare, and a Baby Friendly Hospital. Who knew? Hey, Omaha! You've been outed! (Get ready for the influx)

Although my personal favorite city, Boulder, wasn't mentioned (it's not one of the 50 largest cities), nearby Denver made #6. So there. Family-friendly bike trails, a wide variety of fresh and organic produce, lots of alternative birthing options, over 200 days of sunshine per year, and a gorgeous daily eye-feed known as the Rocky Mountains make this MY place to be. (Philadelphia, the city near where I'm presently ~~interred stuck~~ uh, living, is at almost the bottom of the list. Yeah, I knew that.)

[photo credit: UrbanInfant.com]

Strollerderby : U.S. cities

5 Best Cities to Have a Baby