What makes a good midwife

Ok all you wannabe midwives qualified midwives ppl thinking about becoming one. What do you think makes a good midwife a topic bar for most original answer

Common Sense.

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Love Dory xxx
Just keep swimmin', just keep swimmin'....

Have you just been offered a place? If so and you want a mentor please post in post this forum (also post here if you would like a mentee)

lol Dory that will not win you a choc bar

Why not?

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Love Dory xxx
Just keep swimmin', just keep swimmin'....

Have you just been offered a place? If so and you want a mentor please post in post this forum (also post here if you would like a mentee)

Because !!!

Oh, that's me told then

Common sense, a good sense of humour, the ability to listen, to put people at ease. To not panic and to inspire confidence. To empathise, to not be judgemental, to be practical and patient. To be human.

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Love Dory xxx
Just keep swimmin', just keep swimmin'....

Have you just been offered a place? If so and you want a mentor please post in post this forum (also post here if you would like a mentee)

The ability to do a million and one jobs at once, without making a complete mess of it.

Oodles of patience.

Listening to the things women don't tell you, as well as what they do.

Being able to empathise with a woman, and how she is feeling.

Making the woman and her partner feel like they are the only ones you have to see and take care of.

Be able to empower women and partners to make informed choices about her care.

Being aware of cultural needs of women.

That's all I can think of right now.

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Midwifemissy x

Student Midwife 2007
Student uni rep
Educational Resources Manager

PAB Support Worker

Missy........ THIS is why you will make an EXCELLENT midwife. This for me, is at the core as to what makes a good midwife..........

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StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
(George Eliot, 1860)

I believe to be a good midwife you should....

be prepared to stand up for the choices the mother/family in your care make- regardless of whether it goes against the grain.. you need balls!

Support the woman/family in those choices and help make those choices become a reality

Have the current best knowledge to enable you to educate the women/families to enable them to make an educated, well informed choice about the care they wish to receive for themselves and for their baby

Have the patience to sit back and observe as apposed to push push push. Watch out for signs that things aren't progressing in the way the woman planned and for signs of unhappiness.. She may not feel able to say "hey.. I don't want that!"

Understand that although normality, less pharm. pain relief and breastfeeding may be best for mother and baby statistically but these choices may not suit all families, so may not actually be the best choice for them and theirs.

Be able to encourage women that although they're in pain/tired/peed off with being in labour, they're progressing really well and give them the encouragement and belief in their own ability to keep going when things get tough and they see no end in sight.

The organisation to attend 2/3 women at once on labour ward and fill in 16 copies of the same bloody paperwork, yet stay focused on the job in hand (Yeah I know it shouldn't happen... but it does!!!!!)

Give support to new parents and parents-to-be to allow them to have the strength to believe in their own ability to learn and blossom as parents in their own right and not to be pressured by what others believe.


errrrrrrrrrr Not sure about what else... my brain hurts!

ETA.... he ability to go without food, drink and hold in pee for 8 hours at a time!!!

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Aww TallPoppy, I am blushing now lol.

To me, you have to assess the woman as a whole, the way she acts, her body language, the things she is saying to you, that can actually tell you that there are things she isn't saying.

You need to be able to pick up on that in my opinion, and build up her trust so she feels she can tell you what she really feels, wants to say etc.

I am not saying it is easy to do in a rushed clinic, home visit, labour ward etc, but that extra time taken can mean the difference between her feeling valued and having control over her care, or feeling like she is 'just another woman' to be seen and dealt with as soon as possible.

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Midwifemissy x

Student Midwife 2007
Student uni rep
Educational Resources Manager

PAB Support Worker