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Petition Tag - midwives
1. Midwives to diagnose and treat tongue tie 
Tongue tie in an infant is easy to diagnose and easy to treat. It can cause feeding problems, especially with breastfeeding - baby feeds constantly but does not gain weight, the latch is 'correct' but the mother suffers sore and damaged nipples, the baby is unsettled and unhappy most of the time and suffers with hiccups, wind and brings back milk.
This leads to many mothers giving up within the first few days or weeks, unaware there is a problem. Worse, a problem is diagnosed but nothing is done, leaving a mother struggling and unsure what to do for the best. Treatment currently on the NHS can take weeks or months, depending on your PCT.
Midwives can be trained to recognise and treat tongue tie, upon discussion with the mother, in the first few days after birth, giving women the chance to establish breastfeeding successfully.
This could increase breastfeeding rates, and can only have a positive effect on mother's mental health.
2. STOP EARLY CORD CLAMPING AND CUTTING!
Early cord clamping (ECC) is defined as any method by which the cord is manipulated to stop the flow of blood to the baby while it is still pulsating. This includes clamping, cutting, hand squeezing, tying or holding the baby too high or too low. An umbilical cord pulsates for between 7 mins for an unmedicated birth and up to 20 mins for a medicated birth.
In this time the full volume of blood the newborn infant requires is still passed from the placenta until it stops pulsating or until it turns white. Currently mainstream procedure is to immediately (within 30 seconds) clamp and cut the babys functioning cord. Whenever a pulsating umbilical cord is clamped, 20-60% of the baby's total blood volume is trapped inside the placenta. It will take over 6 months for the baby to replenish the volume of blood lost by early cord clamping.
Short cord, maternal haemorrhage, c-section, respiratory distress are just a few of the worthless reasons to clamp a cord. Even a baby in distress can be revived with the cord intact. All of the restricted umbilical cord problems are usually the result of drugs given during labour, including oxytocin, Pitocin, iv fluids, and pain medications, not a result of leaving the cord intact. The only situations in which a cord should be early clamped is when the cord has torn or with a placenta previa. Babies born via c-section can be delivered with their cord and placenta intact.
Multiples can also be delivered without risk of restricted umbilical cord problems. ECC is also routinely being done in some countries to get stem cell blood for banking (effectively taking those cells away from your baby when it needs it and possibly using for them at a later stage but mostly for other people). Restricted umbilical cord problems associated with anaemia are Autism, heart perforations, thyroid disorders, brain tumours, leukaemia, SIDS, hormonal imbalances and liver/kidney disease. When a baby requires to be resuscitated which is not that uncommon (1 in 16), the full volume of blood is required to ensure they are receiving the maximum dose of oxygenated blood.
As the blood travels into the baby's expanding lungs, once they become filled, the baby will feel its own signal to breathe and will do so with fully expanded lungs but it is usually procedure during "resuscitation" also to cut the cord, take the baby to a warming tray to make access easier for the attending midwifes, OBs etc which is not a necessity and is counterproductive. Please sign this petition in the hope that we can educate all birth attendants that early cord clamping is doing more harm than good and the practice should be abolished completely.
The baby's umbilical cord should be left at the very minimum until the cord has stopped pulsating. Another 20mins in a birthing unit is not too much to ask. First DO NO HARM. Check out this link for further information http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/restricted-umbilical-cord-problems.html
3. Free training days for midwives
Currently, midwives have often to both fund their own updating training, and take time off to complete it. There is no statutory obligation to support them. This is unacceptable.
Training in high risk pregnancy situations, like pre-eclampsia should be free, paid for, leave provided and compulsory. Recent news from senior midwives suggests midwives are stretched to breaking point. See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343408/. More midwives are in training, but in the meantime those on the frontline will pay the price.
4. The SA community deserves access to quality health care
Nurses and midwives are essential and need:
• Safe staffing levels and skills-mix – essential for positive patient care.
• Professional development – to advance skills and expertise necessary for quality care
• Remuneration, career structure and other conditions that attract and retain the workforce necessary to deliver health services in SA.
5. Raise awareness in the NHS for staff dealing with Angel Parents
As an Angel parent the support I received from the staff within the NHS when I lost my son was very limited. I left the hospital with a handle full of leaflets, my son's hand & foot prints and a card to contact a counsellor. If I so wanted to.But most of all I left the hospital with empty arms.
Information to the other professionals involved in my care was not forwarded on. Which caused me even more upset. When they called to offer their congratulations on the birth of my baby.
This needs to stop and more thought and care needs to go into this area. This could be done by talking to parents that have lost children.
We are future midwives. So needed. So close to qualifying. We need your help.
The UK is dangerously short of midwives. The midwives surviving the profession are dedicated and hard-working. The women giving birth to their babies need competent healthy and loving midwives alongside them at this precious and potentially dangerous and awesome event in their lives.
The tax-payer is spending many thousands of pounds preparing future midwives.
One of these future midwives is 4 months away from the completion of a 3 year course demanding 150 hours a month of placement and lectures plus many additional hours of personal study.
She is a mother of 2 very young children. She is a partner, daughter, sister and friend. She has been wonderfully mentored and trained by dedicated, overworked midwives. She has lived near the poverty line, suffered ill health and lost many nights sleep to fulfill her dream of becoming a midwife.
She has personally and safely ushered women and infants into motherhood. A privilege that she has dedicated her all to train for and a role that she has been assessed on and performs more than competently.
She narrowly failed an essay on the public health role of the midwife 3 times.
4 months before realisation of her dream she has been kicked off the course.
Please could you 'like' this page and sign our petition in support of her appeal for a chance to complete the course so that many more women to come can have the benefit of this loving dedicated future midwife alongside them. The UK so desperately needs dedicated midwives. So much has been given by the tax-payer, mentors, lecturers and students already. Kicking her off the course at this stage would be a tragic, heartless, short-sighted and wasteful act.
7. Protect the Welfare of Injured Workers
Injured workers’ entitlements are under threat due to the State Government’s proposed changes to WorkCover legislation.
8. Support Funded Yukon Midwifery!
Midwifery care is included in the health care insurance plans of six Canadian provinces and territories and has been shown to be a safe, family-centered, cost effective option for low-risk childbearing families in Canada; there is also a shortage of physicians taking maternity patients in the Yukon.
Links
http://www.chsrf.ca/mythbusters/pdf/boost6_e.pdf
http://www.aom.on.ca/Communications/Government_Relations/Benefits_of_Midwifery.aspx
“The integration of midwifery into the obstetrical health-care team is fostering excellence in maternity care for Canadian women and their families.”
Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
