Oxford Handbook of Midwifery

Fully revised and updated to include the most up-to-date guidelines, references and resources, this new edition of the bestselling Oxford Handbook of Midwifery provides a concise and logical approach to midwifery practice in all its varied care settings. Giving a complete picture of the role of the midwife, the handbook reflects the mother's journey through conception, pregnancy and birth to the final postnatal examination of mother and baby. This new edition includes recent advances in midwifery practice including developments in antenatal care, labour, postnatal care and infant feeding. The content is systematically structured to enable quick navigation and ensure the relevant information is at your fingertips whenever you need it. The handbook covers the vast majority of situations encountered in the many broad and varied settings of midwifery practice, from the normal, low-risk care of the mother and neonate, through to the more complex areas of working alongside obstetric or paediatric colleagues in high-risk pregnancy and birth situations. It provides all the information you will need to assist you when participating in complex care with confidence. With a wealth of references, recommendations, and guidance from the authors' many years of experience this handbook will help you achieve the best possible results for your patients. The fundamentals of midwifery are divided into seven main sections, covering antenatal care; normal labour and birth; complicated labour and birth; postnatal care; family planning; care of the newborn; and infant feeding. It also gives information rarely covered in standard midwifery texts, including sexual health, complementary therapies, common blood values, investigations, and midwifery emergencies. Key interventions are laid out as algorithms to aid quick assimilation of the crucial facts. Written by practising midwives, and checked by subject experts, you can trust this handbook to have the late