This website is intended for healthcare professionals

Cultural considerations in postnatal dietary and infant feeding practices among Chinese mothers in London

Zuo yuezi (ZYZ)—which, by direct translation, means ‘sitting the month’ or sometimes ‘doing the month’—is a traditional Chinese practice of confinement and convalescence for women for a full month...

Motivations and influences acting on women choosing a homebirth: Seeking a ‘cwtch’ birth setting

In the UK, only a small number of women have a homebirth Recent birth figures report that, on average, 23% of women gave birth at home in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2015)...

Homebirth and the regulator: An abrogation of responsibility

In 2006, following considerable lobbying and consultation, the Mid wifery Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) updated guidance on the responsibility of a midwife to attend a homebirth...

Of embellished memories and the expertise of experts

A recent High Court case (Watts v The Secretary of State for Health [2016]) has raised a number of issues, including the reliance that can be put on a claimant's accounts of the events in question,...

The importance of technology

On Monday 14 November 2016, something happened that highlighted how much we rely on IT to function day-to-day The whole NHS email system crashed, owing to the creation of a distribution list that...

Respect for women's reproductive rights

‘Sometimes it's hard to be a woman,’ Tammy Wynette once sang, before going on to advise that one should forgive one's husband for being unfaithful because ‘he's just a man’ and thus, she seems to...

Reasons why midwives leave

Most of us remember the seminal piece of work by Ball et al (2002) entitled Why midwives leave, and were, perhaps, not surprised by its findings about dissatisfaction and lack of support in the...

Preterm birth and maternity leave

According to the UK charity Bliss (2014: 4): ‘There are 78 000 babies born too soon, too small or too sick in Britain each year’ Apart from the parental fear and anxiety accompanying a premature...

Epilepsy in pregnancy: Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterised by recurrent unprovoked seizures (Krumholz et al, 2015) It is one of the most common chronic medical disorders, affecting up to 50 million people...

Blood transfusion in the context of maternity care

In contemporary midwifery practice, the administration of blood transfusion (BT) has been relatively rare, compounded by the scarcity of blood, with an approximate incidence of 6% of BT in maternity...

Impact of immediate vs delayed feedback in a midwifery teaching activity with a simulated patient

Simulation is defined as ‘a technique, not a tech nology, to replace or amplify real experi ences with guided experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully...

Do psychosocial interventions have an impact on maternal perception of perinatal depression?

Perinatal mental health is a key issue in contemporary maternity care, with suicide continuing to be a leading cause of maternal death in the UK (Knight et al, 2014) The most recent Confidential...

Why choose British Journal of Midwifery?

BJM supports midwives by sharing expertise and advice to help you build confidence, grow professionally and improve care.

What's included

  • Evidence-based best practice

  • Peer-reviewed research

  • Practical guidance

  • CPD support

Subscriptions start:

From £12.75 GBP