Ellie The Doula - Birth and Postnatal Doula Care

Took time out to read this afternoon and cried. I cried for the families and I cried for midwives. We have to do better than this. The system is broken.

Shrewsbury maternity scandal: Baby records on post-it notes went in bin - BBC News Sajid Javid says clinical details on post-it notes went in the bin with tragic consequences for a baby.

“Countless independent reviews of maternity services have cited staff shortages as a potential risk to safety and quality of care. The RCM has been raising concerns about this for over a decade, yet successive governments have chosen not to listen."

If you don’t like it, go private: what my maternity clinic said over scans delay After a raft of prenatal check-ups were cancelled because of Covid staff shortages, one mother asked how other mums fared. The replies shocked her

I hear this one regularly ... 'they' don't know what they're doing or 'they' keep changing things. But it's really not true. The guidelines on when to introduce solids foods to babies changed in 2003 in the UK to advise starting at around six months old.

That's 18 years ago. There are 'babies' for whom the guidance was 6 months driving, voting and going to the pub (well, when they're open).

Before that, the last change was in 1994, where the guidance was changed from 4 months to 4 - 6 months.

Why did it change? Why do we 'keep changing' guidelines? Because we do more research and know better.

The decision to change the recommendations to suggest the introduction of solids at around six months came from a systematic review of research, which essentially showed that there was no harm in waiting until six months, but that this delay might reduce infections.

The review was based on the combination of findings of two randomised controlled trials and 17 observational studies. Overall the review found that there was no difference in weight, length or head circumference at 12 months between babies exclusively breastfed for four or six months before introducing solid foods.

This meant that timing of solids did not appear to slow down growth – babies were clearly still getting enough energy and nutrients to grow. However, babies who were introduced to solids at six months had fewer gastrointestinal infections.

Meanwhile for women who were breastfeeding, it found that they lost more pregnancy weight on average, and also experienced a greater delay in their periods returning (great for most new mothers, but especially good for those in developing countries where childbirth is riskier and access to contraception poor).

And no... there are no plans to change the guidelines any time soon. In the UK the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition published an update in 2018 to confirm that the balance of evidence still pointed until around 6 months.

UK health trusts suspend home birth services as midwives shortage deepens ‘Crisis’ in maternity care leaves expectant mothers facing difficult births in hospital or without support at home

Please sign to save maternity services, midwifery and the future of birth in the UK.

Sign the Petition Support urgent government investment into maternity services to solve the staffing crisis

Sleeping Through the Night, Self Soothing and 'Good' Babies: Why We Need to Stop Setting Mothers up to Fail - Raised Good "Is he sleeping through the night?" "Is she a 'good' baby?" These are the loud lies of infant (& toddler) sleep. Read more to help the quiet truths rumble.

They are two healthy babies, three months old, both exclusively breastfeeding and, believe me, neither the one on the left is obese, nor the one on the right is undernourished. They are variations of normality! Most likely, when they start crawling, the one on the left will slim down a little and the one on the right will gain muscle mass.
Do not compare your child to other children.
Each of us is different.

"Over a year into the pandemic, and le***an mothers are still being denied the right to feed their own babies in some Trusts, under the dubious name of protecting healthcare staff. To justify these policies, some mothers are being told they are not actually parents, potentially causing further psychological harm. The narrow framing of who is a mother in these policies is problematic, and the wording of such policies reveals the underlying heterosexist beliefs of the staff who create such policies. These beliefs are harming le***an non-gestational mothers. It is time to do better."

The Iatrogenic Harm of Heterosexism in Perinatal Care Mari Greenfield continues the blog series on naming and framings of violations in maternity care. The post exposes several heteronormative framings in perinatal care, with a focus on le***an co-breastfeeding mothers' experiences. She reveals the harmful consequences of heteronormative Covid maternit...

Not just young kids....

Parenting young kids is exhausting. Should we rethink the nuclear family? | Sophie Brickman Mothers tend to assume the majority of child-rearing responsibility. But without communities and multigenerational living setups we wouldn’t have survived as a species

While covid has put maternity services under more pressure, lets not pretend things weren't already in the toilet. Maternity services have been grossly underfunded for years now, with midwives leaving in droves (due to stress from being overworked and underpaid).
The government needs to take ownership of this problem and fix it or we will all suffer.

NHS maternity services near breaking point, warns top doctor Exclusive: country’s most senior gynaecologist is latest clinician to raise alarm about mounting Covid pressures

Babies are lovely aren't they? Holding them, soothing them, not forgetting that new baby smell.

When visiting new parents, remember that the connection between them and their baby cannot be matched. Although you may want to hold the baby and calm them when they cry, chances are there's a mother and/or father wanting you to just hand them back.

They may not want you to of course. They may be exhausted and overwhelmed, happy for you to take baby for a walk around around to try and calm them so they can rest.

Ask though. If the baby cries, offer the baby back.

If you've held baby for a while, hand them back.

If you notice mum in the corner becoming restless or pacing around, hand them back.

They may feel awkward asking and mindful of offending you. Remember it's their baby.

Parents - if you feel your baby needs you and you want them back but someone is hogging them, just walk over and put your arms out. Simply say "come to mummy/daddy" or "I'm going to take her and feed her now", or simply "pass her here please".

A new baby in the family is exciting and there will often be excitement amongst family and friends, but please, don't hog the baby 😊

Midwife Marley

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"We are deeply concerned that if these recommendations are taken forward uncritically, they could further embed institutional racism in maternity care, strengthen racial biases and stereotypes, legitimise skin tone as clinically meaningful, pathologize healthy pregnancies in women from ethnic minority backgrounds, and undermine choice for black and brown women."

Racial profiling for induction of labour: improving safety or perpetuating racism? - The BMJ The disproportionate mortality and morbidity in mothers and babies from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds as compared to white mothers and babies is clearly evidenced. [1-3] There have been [...]More...

for all the babies lost and those who love them.

This is not OK, this is not safe for professionals or families. We are losing talented and passionate midwives at an alarming rate and the effects on the people I work with are already terrifying.

Midwives working 20-hour days with no breaks at hospital, watchdog finds ‘There were not enough midwifery staff and maternity support workers to keep women and babies safe,’ says CQC

Fear on the ward: UK mothers threatened with social services for refusing maternity care Women who refuse advice from health service staff say they are being coerced with threats of referrals to agencies and police

Giving birth under the Taliban Pregnant women, new mothers and infants are bearing the brunt of a worsening healthcare crisis.

Today's work backdrop. Giving mum a break and taking in some fresh air.

The hijacking of World Breastfeeding Week - Boobingit The hijacking of World Breastfeeding Week by infant formula companies happens every year. Let's talk about why it's inappropriate.

NHS guidance warns blood oxygen monitors 'may be less accurate if you have brown or black skin' The NHS acknowledged the devices 'may be less accurate if you have brown or black skin'

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We need to get something straight, once and for all. Midwives don’t just deal with birth and babies. We don’t only facilitate happy events or only help those well on their way to becoming blissed-out parents. Yet misconceptions are rife and people are often surprised that midwives work in abortion care. If they truly understood our role, they wouldn’t be.

Midwife means ‘with woman’ and that means we are there for ALL of it; the sorrow and sadness, in sickness and in health, through joy and through pain. We are there when grief comes to call, when hope slips away, when hearts are broken, when tough decisions are made, when lives are forever altered, and when the strength of women stares us down and makes us want to weep in gratitude that we get to witness it.

We hold hands, fiercely advocate, say encouraging words and do all the things expected of us…but we do it for everyone who needs us, not just birthing people. We do it for the person going through gruelling fertility treatment, we are there for the couple who have just found out at the scan that their child has a fatal abnormality, and we are there for the women who are pregnant and don’t want to be.

It doesn’t need to be about water births or measuring bumps for us to be included in the story. We are there quietly in the background, ever-present but unobtrusive. We’ve been there since time began and we’ll be there until it ends.

It’s not ‘lovely’, it’s astonishing. Superhuman. Extraordinary. Beautiful. All of it. Always.

[ID: Red background with the following text: ‘Midwives in abortion care? Yes, and here’s why’]

What we can learn from women’s experiences of giving birth during the pandemic Covid-19 turned childbirth into a lonely and frightening experience for many women, write Janet Greenlees and Andrea Ford. It’s time we found ways to improve this procedure

Pregnant women in England denied mental health help because of Covid In 2020-21, only 31,261 out of 47,000 managed to access perinatal mental health services

"Motherhood is one of our modern, enlightened society’s awkward little secrets. Here we are with more than 100 years of feminism under our belts, including 50 years of second-wave feminism, during which many consciousness-raising hours were spent unpicking domestic enslavement. Yet mothers are still underpaid, overworked, exploited, overlooked, frazzled, isolated and perpetually guilty."

Parent trap: why the cult of the perfect mother has to end Worldwide, mothers are overworked, underpaid, often lonely and made to feel guilty about everything from epidurals to bottle feeding. Fixing this is the unfinished work of feminism