USEFUL RESOURCES
NICE Guidelines- These are the recommendations for maternity care and are a good base to start. As always these are guidelines and not laws. These can be found online.
Evidence Based Birth- Easy to understand articles that bring together all the evidence from studies on different topics in the one place. Really interesting stuff on due dates, ‘big’ babies and gestational diabetes amongst other topics. www.evidencebasedbirth.com
Sara Wickham- A fantastic Dr, Midwife and researcher who has written lots of easy to digest books on various topics such as inducing labour, birthing the placenta and group B strep and many more. Plenty of info on birth that’s useful to everyone.
Spinning Babies- Loads of information on baby’s positioning, resources to help to aid baby into the optimal position for birth and exercises to move baby if you wish to. Great for turning breech babies!
AIMS (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services)- Loads of unbiased information about birth. There is a helpline to get support and information on your specific circumstances.
Tell Me A Good Birth Story- Read positive birth stories to fill your mind with how fantastic birth can be! There are birth stories on ALL forms of birth! www.tellmeagoodbirthstory.com
Birth Rights UK- This is a charity that aims to improve the way people are treated during pregnancy and birth and they are a great place to go if you think you are being denied something that you are entitled to eg. birth pool, home birth etc. www.birthrights.org.uk
Midwife Thinking Blog- This is a blog with various informative posts by Rachel Reed, author of Why Induction Matters, she is a midwife and lecturer who aims to share evidence based information with parents.
La Leche League- Information on all aspects of breastfeeding. Look for your local LLL Facebook group or in person meetings for local BF support. www.lalecheleague.org.uk
Wendy Jones at The Breastfeeding Network Drugs in Breastmilk information service- If you are prescribed a medication that is said to not be compatible with breastfeeding then always double check this with Wendy. You can send a message on facebook and receive a reply very quickly about your specific situation. They also have fact sheets on various medications and conditions. www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk
Sarah Ockwell Smith- A fantastic parenting expert who explains all about how children's brains change and grow and how we can support them and manage our expectations. She is also an author with some books on the reading list!
Timeline of a Breastfed Baby- An amazing way of finding out what is usual for a breastfed baby at birth and each day/ week/ month after that! Also a great cheerleader as it tells what breastfeeding has done for your baby in that time. www.thealphaparent.com/timeline-of-a-breastfed-baby/
Wonder Weeks- This is a website, a book and an app. It is a great resource for finding out more about the different things your baby is learning and what behaviour you might expect.
Birth Kweens Podcast- This is an american podcast hosted by a midwife and a doula. It’s easy listening and full of information, there are various guests such as health professionals and people telling their birth stories etc
Also available wherever you listen to podcasts eg. Spotify
The Business of Being Born- American documentary created by Ricki Lake discussing the medicalisation of childbirth in America but there are lots of parallels to the UK.
Available on Amazon Video with a free trial of Gaia (2021).
Why Not Home?- A documentary about healthcare professionals talking about why they chose home birth. Great for those deciding on their birth place to look into reasons why you might choose home birth and things that you may find in hospital so that you can get ideas of how to combat them.
Can be rented on the website: www.whynothome.com