Shabira Papain's address at the London Maternity and Midwifery Festival Feb 2019

Last week I presented at the London Maternity & Midwifery Festival which was attended by 100's of delegates from across the maternity system. I was both stimulated and revived in the company of such dynamic women doing such incredible work for families in their patch. At the end of the day I was left with a question which I want to explore further with you; How can digital support front line practitioners?

We are heading in the right direction when a conference room is bursting at the seems with midwives wanting to hear and learn from experiences from mums. In particular from a mum sharing her painful story of childhood abuse and how going into labour became an emotional trigger than no one had anticipated. The story urged us to look at our practice and reflect on the importance of asking the right kinds of questions in the antenatal period.

And for me, I was left feeling that it’s not enough to just ask the difficult questions, for many of us, especially the Seldom Heard Voices, it just feels way too risky to respond in affirmation to questions about domestic violence, abuse or mental health for example. The fear that our children will be taken away remains high. How do we optimise every contact point to build trust and rapport within a system that’s overstretched?

This isn’t a new question and many before have proposed solutions. At Best Beginnings, we propose that digital can support this process so that women, particularly those from Seldom Heard communities are more likely to take that risk. This would mean midwives like you can actively support us to have a healthy and safe pregnancy and give our babies the best start in life.

Check out this short clip on the banner above to find out how the Baby Buddy pregnancy and parenting app can help you make every contact count. For the full recording, see below: