There is no single legal qualification required to become a baby or child sleep consultant in the UK. Sleep consulting is not a regulated profession. However, families trust you with an emotionally charged area of their lives, so high-quality training in sleep science, child development, feeding, responsive practice and consultation skills is strongly recommended.
No. Sleep consulting is not a regulated profession in the UK. There is no licensing body, no legally protected title, and no mandatory qualification. Anyone can call themselves a sleep consultant or sleep coach without any training. This is also true in most other countries.
Quick answer: There is no single legally required route into maternity nursing, but most people follow the same practical path: specialist training, the right practical essentials (DBS, insurance, first aid), strong references, and registration with agencies. This guide covers each step in detail. About this guide Written by the Babyem team. We have been training maternity nurses since 2010 and run a dedicated newborn placement scheme, supporting graduates to gain real experience.Our maternity nurse training is accredited at Level 3 and Level 4 by Open College Network (OCN), the largest vocational awarding body in the UK, Ofqual-recognised. If you are a nanny, nursery nurse, childcare, or healthcare professional thinking about becoming a maternity nurse, or if you are someone who has had your own children and wants to turn that experience into a career, this is the guide for you. What does a maternity nurse actually do? A maternity nurse provides practical, non-medical newborn and postnatal support in the family home, typically during the first 0–3 months after birth. But the role is broader than most people expect before they start. You may also see this role described as a maternity practitioner, newborn care specialist, baby nurse or occasionally baby nanny. In some countries, particularly the US, newborn care specialist is the more common term. In the UK, maternity nurse has remained the most widely used and recognised title, and is the term agencies and families use when searching for and hiring practitioners. At Babyem, we describe the role this way: a maternity nurse is a nurturer. They are there for the mother, for the baby, and for the whole family. It is about supporting that family coming home from hospital, helping everybody settle in, building their confidence, and leaving them feeling more capable than when you arrived. In practice, the role involves three distinct types of support: Practical support newborn care, feeding routines, bathing, winding, settling, safe sleep foundations, gentle routines, nursery duties Informational support helping parents understand newborn cues, types of formula, products, safe sleep guidelines, development and knowing when to refer to a midwife, health visitor or GP rather than advising beyond your scope Emotional support reassuring exhausted parents, building their confidence, recognising when a mother may be struggling and knowing when to signpost professional support Importantly, the role is also a teaching role. The goal is not to take over but to empower parents to feel confident caring for their baby when you leave. That distinction shapes everything about how a good maternity nurse works. For a full breakdown of how a maternity nurse differs from a midwife and a maternity support worker, read Maternity Nurse vs Midwife vs Maternity Support Worker: What’s the Difference? Understanding the different working arrangements Before choosing training or registering with agencies, it helps to understand how maternity nurse work is actually structured. There are three main formats: Type Hours Typical arrangement Best suited for 24-hour Full day and night, usually 5–6 days per week Live-in with the family for the placement duration Newborn period, intensive support, higher earnings Nights only Typically 10pm–7am Daily or live-in by arrangement Families who need overnight cover but manage daytime independently Days only Typically 8am–8pm Daily Families where a parent covers nights or where daytime support is the priority Most families book a maternity nurse on a 24-hour, live-in basis for the duration of the placement. A standard working week runs five or six days, with one full day off. Continuous seven-day cover is not sustainable long-term and most experienced practitioners do not accept it. Your rest matters because your quality of care depends on it. You are also entitled to paid breaks within each 24-hour period, typically two to three hours, which you can use as you need. Placements typically run for four to eight weeks, though some families book longer, particularly with twins or where they want continuity through the early months. Back-to-back placements become common once your reputation builds. Is maternity nursing the right career for you? Maternity nursing suits a specific type of person. Before committing to training, it is worth being honest with yourself about whether the reality of the role fits your life and your temperament. You are likely a strong fit if you: genuinely love the newborn stage and find it energising rather than draining are comfortable working intensively in someone else’s home for weeks at a time are a natural nurturer who also understands the importance of professional boundaries can maintain a calm, reassuring presence with exhausted, emotional parents at 3am are self-employed and comfortable managing your own bookings, contracts and income want flexible, placement-based work rather than a fixed employed role The professional boundaries point matters more than most people expect. You are not the mother’s friend. You are a professional she has brought in to help and support her. You can be warm, caring and genuinely interested in her family, and that is exactly what makes the best maternity nurses. But there is a line. Your personal life is not part of the arrangement. Previous clients are confidential. You are there to do a job, and doing it well means holding that distinction clearly, even when families feel close. This is a skill every new maternity nurse has to develop, and the sooner you internalise it the better your placements will go. Step 1: Complete specialist maternity nurse training There is no single legally mandatory qualification to become a maternity nurse in the UK. However, families and agencies will look for evidence of training, and the quality and credibility of that training will directly affect which roles you are put forward for and what rate you can command. What to look for in a maternity nurse training course: evidence-based curriculum covering newborn care, feeding, safe sleep, settling, colic, reflux and postnatal recovery responsive and attachment-informed practice, not just routines and schedules safeguarding, professional boundaries and scope of practice consultation skills: how to work with families, not just how to care for babies recognised accreditation,… Continue reading How to Become a Maternity Nurse in the UK: A Step-by-Step Guide
Quick answer: You do not need a childcare background to become a maternity nurse. Gaye left a career in corporate travel and conferences, had no professional baby experience, and built one of the most in-demand international maternity nursing practices over 12 years. This is her story and a practical guide for anyone considering the same transition. ‘From Corporate Career to Maternity Nurse. Gaye’s Story’. Watch the interview → Watch: Gaye’s full interview how she left the corporate world 12 years ago and built an international maternity nursing career from scratch. If you are at the earlier stage of exploring whether maternity nursing is right for you, start with our full guide: How to Become a Maternity Nurse in the UK. This blog focuses specifically on Gaye’s path, what it looked like in practice for someone with no professional childcare background, and what she would tell anyone considering the same transition. If you’re wondering whether someone like you could do this Most people considering maternity nursing as a career change have the same question underneath all the practical ones: is this actually realistic for someone with my background? The answer depends almost entirely on the wrong things people assume matter most. You do not need to be a nurse or midwife. You do not need to have worked in childcare for years. What Gaye’s story shows is that the qualities that make a great maternity nurse, empathy, patience, professionalism, the ability to read a room and hold your nerve at 3am, come from all kinds of backgrounds. Including corporate ones. Gaye spent most of her working life in international corporate roles, travel, conferences, events. She was good at it. She was also done with it. In 2009, watching the financial crisis reshape the industry she worked in, she made a decision that surprised people around her and defined the next decade of her life. The moment she decided to reinvent herself “I could see there were lots of changes and I thought. I need to reinvent myself again. I need to do something that’s good for me.”. Gaye Her sister is a nurse and midwife. She had always loved the idea of working with newborns. But retraining as a nurse felt impractical at that stage of her life. What did feel practical was starting smaller. She contacted an agency outside London and took a nannying role with a family who had a six-month-old. She stayed for a year.“I learned so much through the family,” she says. “I thought, yes, I really like this.” That first year was deliberate. She was not trying to become a maternity nurse overnight. She was building the foundation, learning what working inside a family home actually felt like, what babies and parents actually needed, and whether she had the temperament for it. The answer was yes. So she kept going. How she found maternity nursing, by accident The transition from nannying to maternity nursing happened in the way most good career pivots do: unexpectedly, through a specific job that changed everything. A family she was connected to had premature twins. They had a maternity nurse, but needed someone to cover her day off. Gaye stepped in. “That was my introduction to maternity nursing. And I thought this was the most wonderful job. I just built on that.”. Gaye She did the Level 3 maternity nurse course. Then a breastfeeding course. A postnatal depression course. She started taking the odd night here and there with families while still nannying, building experience and references without burning bridges or taking a financial risk she couldn’t afford. Then she approached a big London agency. She had roughly two years of experience at that point. Not a long CV by some standards. But she had references, she had specific newborn experience, and she had done the training. The agency gave her a chance. Her first three agency placements were all premature twins. “The easy jobs. I was thrown in at the deep end. But it was wonderful. It was an amazing experience.” Gaye What the role actually involves day to day Gaye works 24-hour placements, previously six days a week, now five, with longer breaks between bookings. She has worked in Barbados, Switzerland, South Africa, the US and across Europe. She is, as Emma says in the interview, extremely hard to get hold of because she is always booked. Her day typically starts between 6 and 7am, changing the baby, taking them to the mother for the first feed of the day, running through the night’s details. She keeps a diary for every family: feeds, sleep times, nappy changes, anything worth monitoring. She teaches as she goes. “I’m in the background ready to help. But I let the mother sort of I like to teach her and empower the mother.” Gaye She involves fathers. She recognises when a mother is overwhelmed and adjusts her approach accordingly. She knows when a baby’s feeding difficulty might indicate something medical and knows when to say “I think we should get this checked by a paediatrician” rather than guessing. She explains sleep biology to parents, awake windows, circadian rhythm, developmental norms , in conversation, not in lectures. She also has a filter she applies before every booking now, built from early experience of getting it wrong. “I went into one or two families and I thought maybe I can change them. And then I thought, no. Now I’m a lot more discerning. I make sure that the family’s values are aligned with my values, because I have a very gentle approach..” Gaye She tells every prospective family from the first WhatsApp message: this is my approach. If they want a baby sleeping through the night in two weeks, she is not the right fit. That clarity, she says, makes every placement work better. Why her corporate background turned out to be an advantage This surprises people, but it shouldn’t. A career in international corporate work builds skills that are directly transferable to high-end private… Continue reading From Corporate Career to Maternity Nurse: Gaye’s Story
About this guide Written by the Babyem team. Babyem is a training provider, not a placement agency. We do not set maternity nurse rates and we have no commercial interest in the figures quoted here. The rates in this guide are drawn from publicly available agency data as of June 2026. For the most current figures, always check directly with specialist agencies when you are ready to register. Quick answer: Based on UK agency data as of June 2026, newly qualified maternity nurses typically start at around £200-£250 per 24-hour day. Experienced practitioners work in the £300-£450 range. Twins, multiples and specialist cases command higher rates. These figures are gross income before tax and self-employment costs. Maternity nursing is self-employed work. That changes how you need to think about the figures. The rate you agree with a family or agency is not the money you take home. Before comparing these numbers to an employed salary, you need to account for tax, National Insurance, gaps between placements, insurance, and the cost of keeping your qualifications current. This guide gives you a realistic picture of earnings at different experience levels, what self-employment means financially, and how rates grow with experience and specialism. For the full step-by-step guide to training and getting started, read How to Become a Maternity Nurse in the UK. What are the current rates for maternity nurses in the UK? Maternity nurse rates are set by the market, not by training providers or awarding bodies. The figures below are based on what specialist UK placement agencies are publicly quoting as of June 2026. They will move over time, so treat them as a guide rather than a guarantee, and check directly with agencies such as Eden Private Staff, when you are ready to register. Experience level 24-hour day rate Nights/days only (per hr) Notes Newly qualified £200-£250 £16-£18 Building first newborn references 1-2 years experience £250-£320 £18-£22 Growing reference bank, agency registered Experienced (3+ years) £320-£450 £22-£28 Strong referrals, specialist skills Twins / multiples Add £50-£100+ per day Higher Rates increase with complexity International placements Varies significantly Varies Agree all expenses and travel costs in advance Important: these are gross rates. As a self-employed practitioner you are responsible for paying income tax and National Insurance from these earnings. See the self-employment section below before drawing conclusions about take-home pay. A note on geography: these figures reflect the London and South East market where most private placements are concentrated. Rates outside London are typically lower. The figures above are gross, before tax and National Insurance. See the self-employment section below for what that means for your actual take-home. For a clear breakdown of how the private maternity nurse role differs from an NHS maternity support worker or midwife, read Maternity Nurse vs Midwife vs Maternity Support Worker. What does a newly qualified maternity nurse realistically earn? The short answer is: less than the figures at the top of the table, and less than some training course advertisements might suggest. Agencies register practitioners based on their experience and references. A newly qualified maternity nurse with limited newborn placements behind her will typically be put forward for roles at the lower end of the market rate. This is not a reflection of her training quality. It is a reflection of the fact that families and agencies are placing trust in practitioners they cannot yet verify through a track record of completed placements. The rate builds with the reference bank. After two or three solid placements with strong verbal references, most practitioners find they can move upward. After several years with specialist skills and consistent repeat bookings, the upper ranges become realistic. If you are new to newborn care, the most effective route to building the references that justify higher rates is structured newborn experience before approaching agencies. Babyem’s Maternity Nurse Placement Scheme supports England-based graduates to do exactly this, matching them with real families. Placements are unpaid; families cover travel and food expenses. The scheme is optional and available to graduates in England only. Self-employment: what the rate actually means for your finances Maternity nursing is self-employed work. Every practitioner is responsible for her own tax, National Insurance, insurance, pension and the gaps between placements. This is one of the most important things to understand before making career decisions based on the headline daily rate. Tax and National Insurance As a self-employed practitioner in the UK you pay income tax on your profits and Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions. The exact amounts depend on your total annual income, but as a working rule of thumb, setting aside 25-30% of your gross earnings for tax and NI will keep you in good shape for your annual self-assessment return. You are required to register as self-employed with HMRC and submit a self-assessment tax return each year covering the period April to April. If this is new territory, getting an accountant early is worth the cost. Tools like QuickBooks or FreeAgent are widely used by self-employed childcare practitioners and make the record-keeping straightforward. What self-employment does not include Statutory sick pay, if you cannot work due to illness you have no income Paid holiday, time between placements is unpaid Employer pension contributions, your pension is entirely your responsibility Maternity pay, self-employed maternity allowance from the government is available but limited None of this makes maternity nursing a bad financial choice. It means the comparison with an employed salary needs to account for these factors. A maternity nurse earning £300 per 24-hour day is not earning the equivalent of someone on £300 per day as an employee. Expenses you can offset against tax Professional indemnity and public liability insurance Training and CPD courses, including any specialist courses you complete DBS check renewal costs Equipment used in your work Professional subscriptions and memberships Travel to and from placements (with conditions, take accountant advice) Keeping clear records of income and expenses from the start makes the annual self-assessment significantly less stressful. Open a separate… Continue reading How Much Do Maternity Nurses Earn in the UK?
If you’re researching a career supporting families after birth, you’ve probably noticed that “maternity nurse,” “midwife” and “maternity support worker” often get used interchangeably online. They shouldn’t be. Each role has a different focus, a different working environment, a different level of clinical responsibility, and a different training route. A midwife is a regulated healthcare professional who provides clinical care during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. A maternity support worker usually works within NHS or healthcare maternity services, supporting midwives under supervision. A maternity nurse usually works privately in family homes, providing practical, non-medical newborn and postnatal support, typically during a baby’s first 0–3 months, you’ll also see this role called a newborn care specialist, baby nurse or baby nanny. If you’re exploring a career supporting families after birth, understanding the difference matters — because the right training route depends on the type of care you want to provide. Thinking about becoming a maternity nurse? Download Babyem’s free Maternity Nurse Checklist: everything you need to become a maternity nurse, including the training course, skills and practical steps to launch your career. [Download the Free Checklist] Maternity nurse vs midwife vs maternity support worker: at a glance Maternity nurse Midwife Maternity support worker Where they usually work Privately, in the family home NHS hospitals, birth centres, community settings, or independently NHS or healthcare maternity teams Main focus Practical newborn care, feeding routines, sleep foundations, postnatal support Clinical pregnancy care, leading labour and delivering the baby, and postnatal care Supporting midwives and families with practical, day-to-day care Clinical responsibility None, unless separately qualified Full clinical responsibility; regulated by the NMC Works under supervision; limited delegated tasks Typical training route Specialist maternity nurse training (e.g. Level 3 or Level 4) Approved midwifery degree (BSc or postgraduate route), NMC registration NVQ/healthcare qualifications, often combined with NHS in-house training Best suited for Those who want hands-on, private, family-based newborn support Those who want a regulated healthcare career in maternity Those who want a structured, employed NHS role supporting maternity teams Note: “Maternity nurse” is also widely known as a newborn care specialist, baby nurse or baby nanny different names for broadly the same private, home-based newborn support role. What is a maternity nurse? A maternity nurse provides practical, non-medical newborn and postnatal support in the family home, usually in the early weeks or months after a baby is born. Families typically bring in a maternity nurse to help them settle into life with a newborn, recover from birth, and build confidence in caring for their baby. You’ll often see this role described using different titles. In the UK, “maternity nurse” is the long-established and most widely used term, but the same role is increasingly referred to as a newborn care specialist — the term more commonly used internationally, particularly in the US and sometimes as a baby nurse or baby nanny. These all generally describe the same kind of practical, non-medical newborn support, though exact scope and experience level can vary between individual practitioners and agencies, so it’s worth checking what a specific role or course actually covers. A maternity nurse’s remit is typically the newborn period — broadly the first 0 to 3 months of a baby’s life, sometimes extending to around 4 months depending on the family. Once a baby moves beyond this newborn stage, families often transition to a maternity nanny or a nanny with newborn experience, who picks up weaning, daytime routines and the next stage of development rather than the intensive round-the-clock newborn period. A maternity nurse may support with: newborn care feeding routines and practical feeding support, within scope winding, bathing and changing settling and sleep foundations gentle routines helping parents understand newborn cues giving parents rest and reassurance supporting the transition after birth helping parents build confidence A maternity nurse is not the same as a midwife and does not provide clinical care unless separately qualified. Their role is about practical, hands-on support — not diagnosis, treatment or clinical monitoring. Why maternity nursing suits career-changers Maternity nursing can be a strong path for nannies, doulas, nursery practitioners, childcare professionals and anyone who loves newborn care but doesn’t want to pursue registered midwifery. It offers a way to work closely and intensively with families, often with more flexibility and autonomy than an NHS-based role. Nannies often make this transition naturally. If you already have hands-on baby experience, specialist training builds on that foundation with focused newborn knowledge — feeding, sleep, postnatal recovery and safe practice — that agencies and families specifically look for, and it can support higher rates than general nanny work. Doulas are also a common fit. Postnatal doula work already involves supporting a family through the early weeks, so the step into maternity nursing is often about adding deeper, hands-on newborn care knowledge to existing postnatal support skills, broadening the type of work you can offer. Other routes people often overlook It’s also common to see people move across from nursery nursing, health visiting or even midwifery into private maternity nurse work, drawn by the chance to support one family intensively rather than working within a wider team or service. Two other routes come up often and are easy to overlook. People working in adult or elderly care frequently bring across exactly the caregiving instincts and patience a maternity nurse needs — the setting changes, but the core skill of providing calm, attentive, hands-on care to someone vulnerable doesn’t. And many maternity nurses come to the role simply because they’ve had their own children, discovered they loved the newborn stage more than they expected, and decided to turn that into a career rather than leave it behind after their own family was settled. Whatever the starting point, families and agencies tend to care most about demonstrable baby experience, solid references and evidence of relevant training — not which route you took to get there. What is a midwife? A midwife is a registered healthcare professional who provides clinical care… Continue reading Maternity Nurse vs Midwife vs Maternity Support Worker: What’s the Difference?
If you’ve searched “how to become a baby sleep consultant UK”, you’re probably standing at a genuine crossroads. Maybe you’re a health visitor, doula, breastfeeding counsellor or nursery nurse who keeps getting asked sleep questions by exhausted parents. Maybe you went through brutal sleep deprivation yourself and came out the other side wanting to help others avoid it. Either way, the motivation isn’t the problem, the confusion is. There’s no official syllabus, no licensing body, and dozens of training providers all claiming to be the best. This guide cuts through that noise. We’ll cover what a baby sleep consultant does, whether the profession is regulated in the UK, what to look for in training, how long it can take, what you may be able to earn, and the practical steps involved in building a credible sleep consulting practice. What Does a Baby Sleep Consultant Do? A baby sleep consultant (sometimes called a sleep coach or sleep practitioner) supports parents of babies and young children to understand and improve sleep. In practice, that means assessing feeding, routines, the sleep environment, development and family dynamics, then helping parents make realistic, sustainable changes usually through one-to-one calls, email or messaging support, and occasionally home visits. (If you’d rather watch this explained than read it, Dr Lyndsey Hookway covers much of the same ground in this video.) Why Has Demand for Sleep Consultants Grown So Much? This isn’t a niche side-hustle anymore and it’s worth understanding why, because it explains both who’s training as a sleep consultant right now and who’s hiring them. Lived experience turns into purpose. Many new consultants come to this career after their own experience with their baby’s sleep, either a gruelling few months that a sleep coach eventually helped them through, or a relatively smooth ride that left them wanting to give other exhausted parents the calm, confident start they had. Either way, that first-hand understanding of sleep deprivation and of what genuinely helps, is what makes the work feel meaningful rather than theoretical. Other professionals are already fielding the questions. Doulas, IBCLCs, health visitors, GPs, occupational therapists and nursery practitioners are routinely asked about sleep by the families they already support, often outside their own original training. Many train as sleep consultants specifically so they can answer those questions properly and confidently, rather than informally, and add a credible, complementary service to the work they already do. Society has changed what “good enough” looks like. More mothers are returning to work earlier and trying to sustain a career alongside a young family, and chronic sleep deprivation makes that genuinely unsustainable. Where a previous generation might simply have “made do”, today’s parents are far more likely to invest in support that protects their health, their relationships and their ability to function at work, rather than gritting their teeth through it. Is Becoming a Baby Sleep Consultant Regulated in the UK? Here’s the honest answer: no. Baby sleep consulting is not a regulated profession in the UK. There’s no government licensing body, no legally required qualification, and technically nothing stopping anyone from calling themselves a sleep consultant tomorrow. That’s both good news and slightly alarming news at the same time, good, because it means there’s room for people from all kinds of backgrounds; alarming, because quality varies enormously and clients have no easy way to tell the difference. In practice, two things matter far more than any legal requirement: Recognised accreditation. Many credible UK training providers, including Babyem, accredit their courses through the Open College Network (OCN) network of awarding bodies. Babyem’s own accreditation runs through Open College Network London, an Ofqual-recognised awarding body, with levels typically ranging from Level 3 up to Level 6, broadly comparable to A-level and degree-level study respectively. No regulator forces you to check this, but sceptical parents do, and so should your own conscience when you’re advising a tired, vulnerable family at 2am. Professional indemnity insurance and a clear scope of practice, knowing exactly what you can safely advise on, and when to refer a family to another specialist instead. Because there’s no external gatekeeper, the responsibility for quality control sits with you. Choosing in-depth, accredited training isn’t a box-ticking exercise; it’s what makes you safe, credible and confident enough to handle the complex cases that will eventually land in your inbox. It’s also why good training builds in alignment with established safety guidance, such as The Lullaby Trust’s safer sleep advice, rather than working in isolation from it. A sleep plan that contradicts established safer-sleep guidance isn’t a sign of a confident consultant; it’s a sign of one who hasn’t trained deeply enough. How to Become a Baby Sleep Consultant in the UK: 5 Steps Once you’ve decided this is genuinely the career for you, the path looks like this. Step 1: Understand Where the Industry Is Heading Before choosing a course, it helps to understand that sleep consulting is not one single approach. Some training is more method-led, focusing on routines, sleep associations and step-by-step plans. Other training is more holistic, looking at sleep in the wider context of feeding, development, temperament, sensory needs, attachment, parental wellbeing and family life. This distinction matters because the kind of training you choose will shape the kind of practitioner you become. If you want to offer responsive, evidence-informed support, rather than a fixed method or script, look for training that helps you understand the whole child and family not just the sleep behaviour on the surface. Step 2: Train with an Accredited, Holistic Programme This is the step worth taking seriously. In an unregulated industry, your training is what gives you the knowledge, confidence and professional judgement to support families safely. Look for a programme that includes: An evidence-based curriculum that references real research, not just opinion or hand-me-down scripts Recognised, substantial accreditation, not just a certificate of attendance A genuinely expert faculty, not just one course leader, but specialists across feeding, child development, attachment and family mental health Built-in mentorship and a peer… Continue reading How to become a Baby Sleep Consultant in the UK
The Government has announced plans to protect the title ‘nurse’ in law. Understandably, this has raised questions across the maternity nurse and postnatal care sector. At this stage, no change is currently in force, and the detail of how this may affect titles such as ‘maternity nurse’ has not yet been confirmed. A public consultation is expected before any final decision is made. There has been ongoing discussion for several years about whether the title ‘Maternity Nurse’ may change in the future. This conversation is not new, and those of us working as agencies, training providers, and awarding bodies have been aware of it for some time. Recently, however, speculation online has created confusion and concern. Some claims have suggested the title will be removed imminently or that it will ‘no longer be valid by the end of the year.’ These statements are not based on any formal process and have understandably caused anxiety among professionals who simply want clarity. This update sets out the confirmed facts and explains what the next steps look like for our sector.
Content Warning – This blog talks frankly about different types of trauma, including birth trauma. If you are sensitive to discussing these topics, you may wish to close this blog, or prepare yourself appropriately for reading. There is information at the end of this blog on how to access support if you are affected by any of the issues raised in this piece. We are almost at the end of Birth Trauma Awareness week, which this year runs from 18th to 23rd July. The theme for this year is diagnosis and treatment. What is trauma? Trauma is an emotional response to a stressful event, such as a natural disaster, a physical or sexual assault, the sudden death of a loved one, or witnessing the assault of another person, e.g. a shooting or stabbing. What is birth trauma? The NICE Guidelines on Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health (2014) definite birth trauma as: “Traumatic birth includes births, whether preterm or full term which are physically traumatic… and births that are experienced as traumatic, even when the delivery is obstetrically straightforward.” This means that even if your labour or birth did not require emergency treatment or deviation from what is biologically normal – you have experienced the event as traumatic. You may have had a birth someone else considers totally normal and not stressful – that does not mean your experience was not traumatic. Giving birth and experiencing birth trauma are very personal. Some families experience trauma after giving birth, if their babies are taken to SCBU, or NICU and are separated from them for some time. Many women are unaware that they have experienced birth trauma until weeks, months, or even years after the fact. Shock and denial are common in the early days after a traumatic experience. Birth trauma can also cause physical symptoms such as nausea, headaches, heart palpitations and symptoms of mental illness such as postnatal anxiety, depression or OCD. According to research carried out by the Birth Trauma Association in 2021, 84% of parents are living with the consequences of birth trauma without effective treatment as a solution, and “84% of respondents with physical birth injuries said it had impacted their self esteem and body confidence.” (BTA, 2022) How can you support someone with birth trauma? Listen but don’t judge. Let them speak openly about their experience – when they are ready –without giving your perspective or advice. Validate their feelings. Telling someone it ‘can’t be that bad’ or ‘at least your baby is here safely’ can totally invalidate the difficult and complex feelings involved with birth trauma. How a mother feels absolutely matters – yes, it’s important that baby arrives safely – but this should not ignore the very real desire of a mother to give birth in a specific way and having this decision removed from her, or the lived experience of the fear, stress, and abject terror many women go through delivering their babies. Help them access the help and support they need. This may involve therapies such as EMDR or TFCBT, which require specialist training and supervision. Encourage parents to thoroughly check the qualifications of anyone they are working with after a traumatic birth, and that they are appropriately supervised by someone specialising in trauma. Some parents may also require medication. Connect with organisations such as The Make Birth Better Project ,the Birth Trauma Association and MASIC (for women with birth injuries). If you want to learn more about birth trauma and perinatal mental illness, we are offering a 20% discount on our Perinatal Mental Health Training (Including postnatal depression and birth trauma) until Sunday 24th July 2022. Use code FORTHE84PERCENT.
You provide and they decide. You provide the meal, and you trust your child that they know when they are done. They get to choose what they want of what is on offer, and how much they want to eat.
