Antenatal Clinic

Ante-natal care is provided by the community midwife. Clinics are held on Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Pre-conception advice and post-natal checks are performed by the practice nurse together with contraceptive advice.

Booking Appointment

Congratulations on your pregnancy, the practices community midwife is Chelsie Robbins.

Please complete the below form to arrange your first appointment – once completed please return to the practice. Once received Chelsie willreview your booking information and contact you either by telephone or post to arrange your first appointment. 

Please review the below information in the meantime:

Medications to start taking:

•      Folic Acid 400mcg daily, which you can get from the supermarket or chemist. Taking folic acid reduces the risk of neural tube defects in babies such as spina bifida.
•      Vitamin D 10mcg daily while you are pregnant and postnatally if breastfeeding. Vitamin D regulates the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body; these are needed to keep bone and teeth healthy.

Diet:

A healthy diet is an important part of a healthy lifestyle at any time but is especially vital if you’re pregnant or planning a pregnancy. Eating healthily during pregnancy will help your baby to develop and grow.

You do not need to go on a special diet, but it’s important to eat a variety of different foods every day to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby need.

It’s best to get vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat, but when you’re pregnant you need to take a folic acid supplement as well, to make sure you get everything you need. For further information please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/have-a-healthy-diet/

For food safety advice please read the below information: https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

Drinking alcohol while pregnant:

Is it safe to drink alcohol while pregnant?

The Chief Medical Officers for the UK recommend that if you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all to keep risks to your baby to a minimum.

Drinking in pregnancy can lead to long-term harm to the baby, with the more you drink, the greater the risk.

For further information please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/drinking-alcohol-while-pregnant/

How to stop smoking in pregnancy:

Stopping smoking will help both you and your baby immediately. Harmful gases, such as carbon monoxide, and other damaging chemicals will clear from your body. When you stop smoking:

• you will reduce the risk of complications in pregnancy and birth
• you are more likely to have a healthier pregnancy and a healthier baby
• you will reduce the risk of stillbirth
• your baby is less likely to be born too early and have to face the breathing, feeding and health problems that often go with being premature
• your baby is less likely to be born with a low birth weight. Babies of smokers are, on average, 200g (about 8oz) lighter than other babies, which can cause problems during and after labour. For example, they are more likely to have problems keeping warm and are more likely to get infections
• you will reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as “cot death”.

Stopping smoking now will also help your baby later in life. Children whose parents smoke are more likely to suffer from asthma and other serious illnesses that may need hospital treatment.

The sooner you stop smoking, the better. But even if you stop in the last few weeks of your pregnancy this will benefit you and your baby. For further information please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/stop-smoking/

For the further information please visit the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/

Pregnancy, breastfeeding, fertility and COVID-19 vaccination

It’s strongly recommended that you get vaccinated against COVID-19 if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.

If you’re pregnant

If you’re pregnant, it’s important to get vaccinated to protect you and your baby. The antibodies your body produces in response to the vaccine can also give your baby protection against COVID-19.

You’re at higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 if you’re pregnant. If you get COVID-19 late in your

pregnancy, your baby could also be at risk.

Evidence shows that most pregnant women with COVID-19 who need hospital treatment or intensive care in the UK have not been vaccinated.

If you’re pregnant and have not had your first 2 doses and booster dose yet, it’s important to get your vaccinations as soon as possible.

If you’re pregnant and have been vaccinated, you should have a seasonal booster dose.

It’s safe to have the vaccine during any stage of pregnancy, from the first few weeks up to your expected due date. You do not need to delay vaccination until after you have given birth.

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 reduces the risk of having a stillbirth.

There’s no evidence COVID-19 vaccination increases the risk of having a miscarriage, pre-term birth or other complications in your pregnancy.

The COVID-19 vaccines do not contain any live viruses and cannot give you or your baby COVID-19.

They have been widely used during pregnancy in other countries and there have been no safety concerns. In the UK, over 100,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated.

Find out how to get a COVID-19 vaccine

Covid Vaccine – Poster information

If you’re breastfeeding

It’s safe to get the COVID-19 vaccine if you are breastfeeding.

You cannot catch COVID-19 from the vaccines and cannot pass it to your baby through your breast milk.

Fertility and COVID-19 vaccination

There’s no evidence the COVID-19 vaccines have any effect on your chances of becoming pregnant.

There’s no need to avoid getting pregnant after being vaccinated.

There’s also no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines have any effect on male fertility.

Whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy

Whooping cough (pertussis) rates have risen sharply in recent years and babies who are too young to start their vaccinations are at greatest risk.

Young babies with whooping cough are often very unwell and most will be admitted to hospital because of their illness. When whooping cough is particularly severe, they can die.

Pregnant women can help protect their babies by getting vaccinated – ideally from 16 weeks up to 32 weeks pregnant. If for any reason you miss having the vaccine, you can still have it up until you go into labour.

Why are pregnant women advised to have the whooping cough vaccine?

Getting vaccinated while you’re pregnant is highly effective in protecting your baby from developing whooping cough in the first few weeks of their life.

The immunity you get from the vaccine will pass to your baby through the placenta and provide passive protection for them until they are old enough to be routinely vaccinated against whooping cough at 8 weeks old.

When should I have the whooping cough vaccine?

The best time to get vaccinated to protect your baby from whooping cough is from 16 weeks up to 32 weeks of pregnancy. This maximises the chance that your baby will be protected from birth, through the transfer of your antibodies before he or she is born.

If for any reason you miss having the vaccine, you can still have it up until you go into labour. However, this is not ideal, as your baby is less likely to get protection from you. At this stage of pregnancy, having the vaccination may not directly protect your baby, but would help protect you from whooping cough and from passing it on to your baby.

Is the whooping cough vaccine safe in pregnancy?

It’s understandable that you might have concerns about the safety of having a vaccine during pregnancy, but there’s no evidence to suggest that the whooping cough vaccine is unsafe for you or your unborn baby.

Pertussis-containing vaccine (whooping cough vaccine) has been used routinely in pregnant women in the UK since October 2012, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is carefully monitoring its safety.

The MHRA’s study of around 20,000 vaccinated women published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found no evidence of risks to pregnancy or babies.

A number of other countries, including the US, Argentina, Belgium, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, currently recommend vaccination against whooping cough in pregnancy.

Read more about why vaccines are safe and important.

Which whooping cough vaccine will I be given?

As there is no whooping cough-only vaccine, the vaccine you’ll be given also protects against polio, diphtheria and tetanus. The vaccine is called Boostrix IPV.

Boostrix IPV is similar to the 4-in-1 vaccine – the pre-school booster that’s routinely given to children before they start school.

You can read the manufacturer’s patient information leaflet for Boostrix IPV (PDF, 132kb).

What are the side effects of the whooping cough vaccine?

After having the whooping cough vaccine, you may have some mild side effects such as swelling, redness or tenderness where the vaccine is injected in your upper arm. This is normal after having a vaccine and it should only last a few days.

Other side effects can include a high temperature, irritation at the injection site, nausea and loss of appetite, tiredness and headache. Serious side effects are extremely rare.

What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough (medically known as pertussis) is a serious infection that causes long bouts of coughing and choking, making it hard to breathe. The “whoop” is caused by gasping for breath after each bout of coughing, though babies do not always make this noise.

Read more about whooping cough symptoms.

Should I be concerned about whooping cough?

Whooping cough is a highly infectious, serious illness that can lead to pneumonia and brain damage, particularly in young babies. Most babies with whooping cough will need hospital treatment, and when whooping cough is very severe they may die.

Research from the vaccination programme in England shows that vaccinating pregnant women against whooping cough has been highly effective in protecting young babies until they can receive their own vaccinations from 8 weeks of age.

In keeping with usual disease patterns, which see cases increasing every 3 to 4 years in England, whooping cough cases have fallen in all age groups since 2012. The greatest fall has been in young babies targeted by the pregnancy vaccination programme.

Cases of whooping cough in older age groups are still high compared to pre-2012 levels. The number of cases was particularly high in 2016, in line with the typical 3- to 4-yearly peak in disease rates.

Babies can be infected by people with whooping cough in these older age groups, so it is still important for pregnant women to be vaccinated to protect their babies.

But are babies not vaccinated against whooping cough to protect them?

Yes, they are, but the babies that have been getting whooping cough are generally too young to have started their normal vaccinations, so they are not protected against the condition.

So, how can I protect my baby against whooping cough?

The only way you can help protect your baby from getting whooping cough in their first few weeks after birth is by having the whooping cough vaccination yourself while you are pregnant.

After vaccination, your body produces antibodies to protect against whooping cough. You will then pass some immunity to your unborn baby.

Will the whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy give me whooping cough?

No. The whooping cough vaccine is not a “live” vaccine. This means it does not contain whooping cough (or polio, diphtheria or tetanus), and cannot cause whooping cough in you, or in your baby.

Will my baby still need to be vaccinated against whooping cough at 8 weeks if I’ve had the vaccine while pregnant?

Yes. Whenever you have the whooping cough vaccine, your baby will still need to be vaccinated according to the normal NHS vaccination schedule when they reach 8 weeks old. Babies are protected against whooping cough by the 6-in-1 vaccine.

Can I have the whooping cough vaccine at the same time as the flu jab?

Yes, you can have the whooping cough vaccine when you get the flu vaccine, but do not delay your flu jab so that you can have both at the same time.

How can I get the whooping cough vaccination?

The vaccine is available from your GP, though some antenatal clinics also offer it. You may be offered the vaccination at a routine antenatal appointment from around 16 weeks of your pregnancy.

If you are more than 16 weeks pregnant and have not been offered the vaccine, talk to your midwife or GP and make an appointment to get vaccinated.

I was vaccinated against whooping cough as a child, do I need to get vaccinated again?

Yes, because any protection you may have had through either having whooping cough or being vaccinated when you were young is likely to have worn off and will not provide sufficient protection for your baby.

I was vaccinated against whooping cough in a previous pregnancy, do I need to be vaccinated again?

Yes, you should get re-vaccinated from 16 weeks in each pregnancy to maximise protection for your baby.