Acupressure And Acupuncture During Birth: An Integrative Guide For Acupuncturists And Birth Professionals

Support—from a distance

Remember the late preterm neonate

In the first of a series of articles exploring neonatal topics relevant to the midwife, I'd like to start with the often overlooked late preterm (LP) neonate As a midwifery lecturer, and occasional...

In a time of uncertainty

At this unprecedented time in the world, I wanted to write a few words of encouragement, support, praise and thanks At the time of writing, I am aware that cirumstances and statistics will have...

What's next after graduation?

‘The world is your oyster, my girl’-these are the wise old words my grandmother said to me when I told her that I'd passed my midwifery degree Reflecting back on that time, I wish I had really...

Making masks for maternity staff

Reports about significant shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for midwives, nurses, doctors and healthcare support staff working for the NHS and worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis...

Educating women and girls on female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a global healthcare problem affecting an estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide (World Health Organization, 2020) It is defined as ‘all procedures that...

Does COVID-19 affect pregnant women?

Why breech birth matters

I was recently teaching a physiological breech birth training day for Breech Birth Network, CIC where I met a wonderful doula with a vast amount of knowledge on physiological birth and supporting...

Enabling perinatal volunteering

There is overwhelming evidence that volunteering and peer support has a unique and valuable contribution to make to ‘Better Births’ outcomes (Spiby et al, 2015; Parents 1st and Institute for Voluntary...

Gestational diabetes and ethics

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) around 700 000 women give birth in England and Wales annually; up to 5% of these women have either pre-existing diabetes or...

Exploring problematic substance use among registered midwives

There is a united level of concern for the health and wellbeing of midwives in the UK, where recent research has shown that many of these midwives experience work-related stress and burnout (Hunter et...

Terminology review: changing culture to reduce risk

Oxytocin (Syntocinon®) and ergometrine with oxytocin (Syntometrine®) are two well-known brands of oxytocics in current use in maternity centres within the UK A recent incident alerted staff at...

What is a professional midwifery advocate?

Midwives roles are dedicated to their profession, their patients, and giving their time to help women during their pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum period This job can be taxing on the health...

Childbirth satisfaction and perceptions of control: postnatal psychological implications

The safe delivery of a healthy baby is a critical priority in perinatal care However, maternal satisfaction also remains an important outcome, as it has the potential to influence psychological...