That is one of the main messages to a Federal Government review of maternity services.

More than 400 of the 900 submissions to the review were made public today.

Key suggestions include:

- Establishing a one-off payment to expectant mothers, similar to the baby bonus, to help fund a woman's chosen birthing option

- Giving midwives in private practice professional indemnity insurance, access to a Medicare number and allowing them to prescribe government subsidised drugs

- Appointing a national breastfeeding coordinator with authority to establish a committee of representatives from government and relevant organisations

- Establishing standards for rural maternity services that will be included in future health funding agreements between the Commonwealth and the states.

A national snapshot of mothers and their babies released this week showed caesarean sections made up almost one-third of births in 2006, compared with 20 per cent in 1997.

This increase in caesareans and other birth interventions has the potential to push down breastfeeding rates, the Australian Breastfeeding Association says in its submission.

"It is well accepted that breastfeeding within the first hour after birth is a vital link to the successful establishment of breastfeeding," it says.

"However, birth by caesarean section often means that mothers and babies miss this vital first hour together."

Homebirth Australia says a lack of funding and professional indemnity insurance for midwives means homebirth is available to very few women.

It has also received anecdotal evidence there has been a rise in the number of women giving birth at home without any medical assistance, referred to as free birth.

"The increase in freebirth is largely an indictment on a broken maternity system that is not based on evidence and is not woman centred," the submission reads.

Future Families said the current structure of maternity services encourages birth to be treated purely as medical condition.

"In no other area of society are our women treated with such a lack of respect," the group's submission reads.

The same sentiment was echoed by consumer Melissa Graham, who said: "Reinstate birth as a normal function of life."

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said most submissions are from individual consumers.

"Their personal accounts of experiences with maternity care sound a strong note of concern that our maternity system has become too focussed on medical intervention," she said.

The government expects to release the Maternity Services Review report in the new year.