Why see a midwife?

As experts in pregnancy, natural birth and postnatal care, midwives are specifically trained to provide maternity care. Midwives provide a quality service during healthy pregnancies and births that scores highly in terms of the mothers’ satisfaction and involves few medical interventions during the birth.

A holistic perspective

In the field of midwifery, pregnancy, natural birth and the postnatal period are viewed as healthy natural processes. Midwifery is characterised by knowledge, a strong sense of conscience, empathy and intuitive alertness. Midwives respond to the mother’s psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual needs in all circumstances (see International Code of Ethics for Midwives).

In addition to the latest midwifery and medical knowledge, specialist midwife training also includes traditional healing methods.This enables us to draw on “the treasure trove of nature” and use both tried-and-tested home remedies and alternative therapies such as homoeopathy, acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, reflexology and aromatherapy.

This holistic perspective opens the door for empathetic, partnership-based care that strengthens you in all respects and whose positive effects often linger for a long time as you embark on family life. Click here to find out more about our mission and our philosophy.

Excellent outcomes

Our own birthing centre statistics and numerous international studies confirm that:

Midwives provide a high-quality service during healthy pregnancies and child birth.
Pregnant women looked after by midwives are very happy with the service they receive.
The number of medical interventions during birth is low.
Fewer newborns are transferred to the neonatal unit.
The outcomes of midwife care in terms of the health of mother and child have been proven to be as good as those of care by medical obstetricians, if not better. In the UK, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has explicitly recommended midwife-led care since 2014.

Sources:

International studies on the quality of midwife care, quoted on page 22 of Kaiserschnittgeburten in der Schweiz:Synthese wissenschaftlicher Analysen.Grundlagenbericht zur Beantwortung des Postulats Maury Pasquier (08.3935), Berne, 27 February 2013.
Innovationen in der ambulanten Grundversorgung durch vermehrten Einbezug nichtärztlicher Berufsleute. Neuenburg: Schweizerisches Gesundheitsobservatorium; 2007.
OECD. Health at a Glance 2011. OECD Indicators. Paris, 2011.
Khan-Neelofur D, Gülmezoglu M, Villar J. Who should provide routine antenatal care for lowrisk women, and how often? A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology; 1998.
NICE press release of 3 December 2014

Recommended by the WHO for good reasons

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that healthy pregnant women have their antenatal check-ups performed by midwives. The recommendation of the WHO experts is based on the above study results and takes the following findings into account:

1. 1. On average, nine out of ten pregnant women are healthy.
  2. All check-ups during a healthy pregnancy can be performed by midwives.
  3. Continuous care by a midwife benefits the mother-to-be’s physical and emotional health. Women looked after in this way are happier with their experience of childbirth, fewer interventions are required and the health of mother and child is boosted on a long-term basis.
  4. Midwives can identify risks and a potentially pathological pregnancy (i.e. involving health problems) with a high degree of certainty and refer the woman to specialists for further tests in such cases.
  5. Midwife-led care reduces the cost burden on the healthcare system as interventions and the associated complications are less frequent.
  6. In countries in which midwives take the lead in antenatal care and the healthcare system facilitates good cooperation with gynaecologists, the expertise of the two professional groups is used in a targeted and therefore cost-efficient manner. Midwives take responsibility for all pregnancies that are expected to be healthy, while gynaecologists take care of the approximately 10-15% of pregnancies that are deemed to be high-risk.

Source:

WHO, Care in Normal Birth: A Practical Guide (1996), see:

http://www.midwiferyservices.org/care_in_normal_birth_practical_guide.pdf

Pregnant? See a midwife from the very beginning.

In many countries, women who have taken a positive pregnancy test naturally arrange an appointment with a midwife (e.g. in the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia). As recommended by the WHO, midwife check-ups are at the heart of maternity care and are the norm throughout the pregnancy in these countries.

As a birthing centre, we work with our partners to ensure that women in Switzerland also have access to female-centred, holistic maternity care, thereby promoting the health of mothers and children and reducing the burden on the healthcare system.