Cuidiú's 2018 guide ‘bump2babe: The Consumer Guide to the Maternity Services in Ireland’ is uniquely placed to provide information about maternity care services and childbirth in Ireland. It covers all 19 obstetric units, the 2 midwifery-led units and the homebirth services.
The premise of the guide is the concept of informed choice for everyone. Our objective is that each user of the guide can easily access 'jargon-free' information to help in making informed decisions about their maternity care.
This guide was actioned, collated and designed by Cuidiú antenatal teacher and tutor, Niamh Healy, responding to the need for more up-to-date information on maternity services being made available to parents in Ireland. This is the third edition of the guide that Niamh has worked on.
The Consumer Guide to the Maternity Services in Ireland is based on a comprehensive survey of all the maternity care providers in the Republic of Ireland, conducted by Cuidiú in 2016-17. The survey was designed to gather birthing statistics and to acquire information on services, policies & practices. It was sent out in early 2016 and responses were received back in 2016-2017 and the information was processed. All the maternity care providers voluntarily partook in what was a lengthy survey and we are very grateful to them for their willing engagement and time. With full participation of all providers of maternity care, parents can compare what is on offer in Ireland in terms of performance and services and find out how their local maternity unit performs on a range of interventions and how these compare nationally.
We hope the guide will also be of interest to any groups involved in, or interested in, the maternity services; midwives, obstetricians, GP’s, public health nurses, antenatal educators and other birth workers/volunteers. It is our sincere hope that our guide plays a part in driving positive change in the Irish maternity services.
Cuidiú remains extremely proud of its ongoing achievement in producing this consumer guide. It is a unique resource that makes available otherwise difficult-to-access information which enables parents to make fully informed decisions about their maternity care.
Antenatal Ireland is the group of professionally trained, Cuidiú-registered antenatal teachers who work to the Cuidiú ethos and are available nationwide delivering high-quality antenatal education with informed decision making at the core.
Cuidiú (formerly Cuidiú - Irish Childbirth Trust)
Cuidiú means ‘caring support’ in Irish. Our motto is ‘education and support for parenthood’. We are a parent-to-parent, community-based, voluntary support organisation. We are a registered charity and more recently have become a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG). We provide support for families throughout all stages of parenthood - from pregnancy to raising adolescents. Our aim is to provide information to parents, which allows them to make informed choices about pregnancy, childbirth, infant feeding and parenting, as well as to support and encourage them in their choices. This is achieved through antenatal classes, postnatal support and breastfeeding support as well as informal peer support.
- Consumer Guide to Maternity services in Ireland www.bump2babe.ie
- Antenatal Classes www.antenatalireland.ie
- Breastfeeding Counselling
- Postnatal and Parent to Parent Support
- Bump, Baby and Toddler Groups
This project was part funded by grant aid from the Hospital Saturday Fund.
