Junior Doctors Industrial Action - 14 to 17 June
Postnatal services
Congratulations on the birth of your baby!
If you gave birth at home, the midwife caring for you will stay a couple of hours after the birth to ensure you and your baby are both well. Then they will leave you to bond as a family, having arranged a time to come and see you again.
If you gave birth in our midwifery-led unit, you and your baby are both well and there are no issues, you can expect to go home after around 4 hours.
- Postnatal care where and when
- How to download RBH Postnatal i-book
Postnatal clinics are available at:
- Royal Berkshire hospital
- West Berkshire Community hospital
- Wokingham Community hospital
- Local Children's Centres
These are offered as timed appointments. Some appointments may be undertaken at your GP surgery by your named midwife.
If you have not had contact with a midwife by 16:00 pm on the next day after you are discharged from hospital, please telephone the ward you were discharged from.
Wards
Midwives will visit you at home in the days after you have given birth.
These visits are according to need, however, the 'Newborn Blood Spot' screening is usually completed on day five. We may offer to see you in your local children’s centre or community hub.
If you need advice outside office hours and cannot speak to a community midwife please either contact the Postnatal ward on 0118 322 7323 or you can leave a message on the Community midwives office number 0118 322 8059 if it is non-urgent.
Midwives and maternity support workers provide feeding support for mothers in hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After mothers go home, we visit and offer feeding support when necessary.
For further information please see our infant feeding page.
Birth Reflections is a specialist clinic which offers women and their families a chance to reflect on their birth experience with an experienced midwife, from any time from 4-6 weeks after birth. It is available to all women who have given birth in the Trust. Please speak to your health visitor or GP if you are feeling that your distress is severely impacting on your emotional wellbeing. It may be that a referral to the Perinatal Mental Health Service (PMHS), is required prior to de-briefing a traumatic experience as this process can worsen symptoms.
Appointments can be made by emailing birth.reflections@royalberkshire.nhs.uk including your full name, date of birth and contact telephone number. Please be aware that wait times can be long as we are a small team working part time for the service. We will endeavour to contact you as soon as possible.
Depending on where you live will determine where to register your baby. Please see the information included in the leaflet 'Postnatal care where and when'.