Midwives are using social media to support mothers in the community
Having a baby can be a nerve wracking and challenging time for any mother, this added with the current climate can cause anxiety amongst expecting mothers in the community.
Midwife Chanel McLaughlin, who is based at the Barkantine Birth centre and Riverside community team, shared how they have adapted their service to cater to these ever-changing times. Chanel explained, “for the safety of women, new-borns and our staff, we have had to cut back on antenatal education classes, home visits and face to face breastfeeding support. We have been working hard to think of ways to therefore fill those missing gaps”.
Chanel stated, “our midwives have been busy creating and filming some video content that we have then uploaded onto our social media platforms. We have covered topics such as active birth, breastfeeding and common issues in the postnatal period”.
The videos produced by the Riverside community team have been extremely popular. Receiving multiple shares on social media and have received praise and positive comments not only from the women in Tower Hamlets, but also from other birth centres, Doula’s and maternity services across the country!
The team will also be holding a live Facebook Q&A session on 17.04.20, which they hope could turn into a monthly event.
Chanel has found that, “many women would like to avoid admission into the main hospital and have referred themselves into having their birth at the Barkantine. We have opened our daily appointments to cater for this increase in demand. Provided women are booked in with the Royal London Hospital and are having an uncomplicated pregnancy, we are able to accept them.”
In these uncertain times, Chanel was able to share some positive news, “we have been extremely busy with lots of births in the last few weeks, we are up to 18 births this month so far!”. Chanel also thanked The Tower and Bow community teams for helping to spread the word on women’s birthplace options, highlighting the importance of joint working in the community.
Thank you to Chanel and her team of Midwives for offering their continuous support to expecting mothers in our local community and the wider online audiences throughout the UK.