Breast Feeding

And so your special day arrives and you meet baby after all of those months of waiting. What will he/she look like? How will baby feel?  Will I know what to do? …So many questions running through your mind as the little one is passed to you to hold for the first time.

Skin-to-skin care with the partner

Birth is unique and dynamic, working alongside your midwife you will be planning and preparing for many months towards an ideal birth. Sometimes things can and do change which may mean that you as the mother cannot hold your baby for the first time; this may be in the event of a CS for example. If for any reason you cannot hold your baby for a while, skin to skin can start between baby and your partner –Baby will Settle to the rhythm of his/her breathing and his/her heart beating, it is a voice that baby will recognise immediately and can go a long way to start the instinctual process until you are ready to take over.

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Top Tips for Preparing your Hospital Bag

Are you, like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, expecting an imminent arrival? You may be experiencing all of the typical ‘false alarm’ twinges and cramps that mums-to-be normally have at this point in your pregnancy. So how do you know that labour has started? Each woman is different, but normally one of the following will occur:

  1. Lower back pain/abdominal pain, similar to menstrual cramps.
  2. Painful contractions, occurring at regular and increasingly shorter intervals.
  3. Broken waters.
  4. A brownish or blood-tinged mucus discharge, often called a ‘show’.

Guaranteed home birth support for low risk healthy women

The Royal College of Midwives annual legal birth conference in London last week concluded that ‘women can’t insist on a home birth if the NHS doesn’t have the capacity to provide it’. A leading Barrister Barbara Hewson was quoted as saying: ‘If you can’t send a midwife out to a home birth, then you can’t. This needs to be explained to women. The NHS may not be able to give them the choice.’