What is A Midwife?
Midwives are independent practitioners that provide healthcare — maternity, gynecologic, reproductive, contraceptive and primary healthcare — to women from adolescence through postmenopause, and to infants up to 28 days of age.
A midwife is a person who has successfully completed a midwifery education programme that is duly recognized in the country where it is located and that is based on the ICM Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice and the framework of the ICM Global Standards for Basic Midwifery Education; who has acquired the requisite qualifications to be registered and/or legally licensed to practice midwifery and use the title ‘midwife’; and who demonstrates competency in the practice of midwifery.
Learn more about midwives, what they do and where they work at Midwifery & Women’s Health, Our Moment of Truth.
Is a Midwife Right for You?
Read more and take the healthcare provider quiz at Midwifery & Women’s Health, Our Moment of Truth
Midwifery Myths Set Straight: Most midwives don’t attend births at home or in the bathtub! (Though many do, of course.) Test your knowledge and learn about your options at Midwifery & Women’s Health, Our Moment of Truth
Resources for Pregnant People & Families
Finding a provider:
Birth Control:
- Bedsider (wonderful, clear information about all methods of birth control. Good YouTube channel too!)
- Planned Parenthood (information about contraception and abortion)
- Scarleteen (wonderful Sex Ed information about all topics!)
- Reproductive Health Access Project (excellent contraception information)
- The Midwife Is In (Q&A blog by an NYC based midwife on all topics reproductive health)
More About Midwives:
Pregnancy:
- Childbirth connection
- Choices in Childbirth
- Spinning babies (information about exercises you can do to position your baby just righ! Flip breeches, turn posterior babies, and more!)
- Science and Sensibility (get good, evidence based information about pregnancy and birth)
- Evidence Based Birth (clear articles carefully researched about a number of important birth topics)
Birth:
- Birthrights (information on your rights during pregnancy and birth)
- Maternity Action (information on rights during birth - UK based)
- Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (information on pregnancy and birth - UK based)
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (evidence based information for providers - UK based)
- Cochrane Review (searchable database of reviews of available research studies)
- New York City Standards for Respectful Care at Birth
Safe medications in pregnancy & postpartum:
Postpartum:
Breastfeeding/chestfeeding:
- KellyMom (clear information on troubleshooting lactation)
- La Leche Leaugue (find lactation support near you)
- International Breastfeeding Centre
- The Milk Meg (lactation consultant's blog)
- Boober (on-demand service that quickly connects new parents to expert breastfeeding help)
Safe sleep for babies:
- Information on Bed-Sharing
- Safe sleep information (UK based)
Obstetric professional organizations:
Other resources:
- Not Safe For Work (NSFW) - The Labia Project (normalizing images of labia)
- Beautiful Cervix Project (photos of the cervix throughout the menstrual cycle)
