Please note that NW8-mums provides information only and cannot held responsible for unsatisfactory experiences or undesirable outcomes.

On this page, we have collected some general information on the antenatal care system and maternity services. Further down, you will also find links to various classes and more pregnancy related information and exercise information including yoga, Pilates to name but a few.

‘I’m pregnant! Now what?!’

General thoughts about pregnancy

The first thing to do once you know you are pregnant is to go to your GP and tell them your news. They will talk you through options including the closest hospitals, should you like to go through the NHS.

NHS Options Close By

UCLH (University College Hospital) with their maternity unit at The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing (EGA)

St Mary’s Hospital

The Royal Free Hospital, located in Hampstead

There are of course others, but those three are the closest distance-wise for residents in St John’s Wood.

Private Options Close By

There are private hospitals nearby and the most well-known ones are The Portland Hospital and The Lindo Wing situated within St Mary’s Hospital. Central Health London based in Marylebone also offers a range of antenatal and postnatal support.

For midwife led support including alongside NHS antenatal service, please have a look at the services of The Motherhood Practice. They also offer postnatal support.

Private Ultrasounds & Screening

Private Obstetricians

Below are names of obstetricians that are popular in the group. Please note that they also work at NHS hospitals.

To see all current consultants at the private maternity units at The Fitzrovia Suite, The Lindo Wing and The Portland Hospital please click on the respective links below.

Doulas

Hyperemesis Gravidarum

Not everyone will feel great when pregnant, and for those of you who have severe nausea and vomiting, you may in fact suffer from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). If you would like to read my story about it, please click HERE. I also wrote an article about it for leading online parenting magazine MyBaba. Should you need signposting for support, please email me.

Antenatal/Bump & Baby Classes & Hospital Tours/Classes

If you are under NHS care, your hospital usually has a tour of the labour ward and midwife led unit (if it exists) at your chosen hospital. They will typically also offer a birthing and breastfeeding class. The good thing about doing a course at your hospital (other than it being free of charge) is that you learn more about labour.

Another big reason to do a class is to meet other expectant parents who are due around a similar time to you. However, when do you a hospital class, the other people there taking it with you on the day could be from quite far away. The truth is, when you have a newborn baby, you are not likely to travel halfway across London to meet someone for a coffee; at least not when your baby is very young and you are still getting the hang of things.

This is where the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) and Bump And Baby comes in. They offer a lot of classes for parents-to-be and probably the main reason why their classes are so popular (apart from learning about childbirth, breastfeeding and more) is that you get to meet others living in (or near) your area expecting children around the same time as you.

Check the websites for workshops nearby. Please note, classes often fill up fast, so it is worth booking as soon as possible. They don’t just offer antenatal classes, but much more, so it is worth having a look at their website.

Anxiety & Perinatal Depression

This is a lot more common than many people think, because it is rarely talked about. So many of Karin’s friends have suffered from it and sometimes for no specific reason.

Karin suffered terribly from perinatal (pregnancy) depression with her pregnancies and for her it was very much related to suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG).

If you are struggling at any point during your pregnancy, or if you have a history of mental health problems even if mild depression, make sure you mention it to your GP, your midwife or doctor so they can make sure you get the best help possible. This is especially important for the postnatal phase too.

We have a page dedicated to this, general information as well as Karin’s own experiences, and please click HERE if you would like to read more.

Group B Streptococcus Testing (GBS)

ANTE-NATAL CLASSES & HELP FROM A-Z

Dietician

Florence Rowe is a clinical dietitian (i.e. has received medical training) specialising in women’s health across all ages (including fertility (male + female), pregnancy, post-natal, PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid conditions, adenomyosis, weight loss, bone health, eating disorders) and children’s health for fussy eating. Online and in-person clinic appointments available. You can book a free 15-minute slots to have a chat. Karin is working with Florence.

Maternity Nurse, Nanny Agencies & Home Help

Karin has found that word of mouth is often the best when it comes to finding a maternity nurse. She usually suggests that those pregnant in the group join the Nanny WhatsApp group for personal recommendations and contact details. If you would like to join the group, please click HERE.

However, there are of course plenty of agencies that can help you too. The list below can get you started, but is by no means exhaustive. Please note that NW8-mums has no affiliation with any agency or person and cannot be held responsible should you not be satisfied.

Nutritional Therapist

Pelvic Floor & Physiotherapy

LETO

My French Physio

Pregnancy Massage

Petra Kumar of Solace Mobile Massage is amazing. She does ante-natal and postnatal massage. She is also quite well-known for her C-section scar massage which Karin is told by many of the mums in the group has helped not just with discomfort, but also with the scarring looking much better. You can enjoy Petra’s massages – she does regular massages too – in the comfort of your own home. Karin has seen her regularly for many years and she never disappoints.

Reflexology

Sarah offers reflexology from her clinic in North West London. She also sees those who are pregnant and postpartum.

www.sarahreflexology.com

Yoga

For those of you who are pregnant, it is always worth checking what classes The Kailash Centre in St John’s Wood is offering. Other than yoga being great to do whilst pregnant, it can also a good way of meeting other expectant mothers.

Laura Della Guardia, runs pregnancy and postnatal yoga classes.

Carla Pozner of CP Holistic, another of our mums, offers pregnancy and postnatal yoga sessions. She is also the founder of Seity Collective which is an online wellness platform helping you find different therapists.

Simi Mirpuri offers a number of services including yoga.

Netta Imber

Westnine Yoga – Dani runs ante-natal yoga classes

Exercise

For a more comprehensive list of exercise, please click HERE to a dedicated page with recommendations of trainers of different disciplines.

Other Pregnancy Conditions

If you have suffered a pregnancy condition and would like to share your story or simply tell us about it so we might be able to add it to this page, please be in touch on hello@nw8-mums.com.

Hospital Bag, Tips & What Nobody Tells You

NW8-mums runs a number of Buy & Sell WhatsApp groups; for children’s clothes and various items (including cots), and also for adult clothes and household items (including furniture). Please click HERE or email hello@nw8-mums.com for more information.

For Your Hospital Bag

Karin has found the Lansinoh cream to be a fantastic nipple cream. She used to whack it on all the time. The beauty of this cream is that you don’t have to remove it before nursing.

Karin would use disposable breast pads as well as disposable maternity briefs. She bought washable breast pads after having her first child and after a few washes, they were pretty yucky. She threw them away and used these pads instead. Disposable items may not be the best for the environment, but for this purpose, Karin found she wanted to use what felt physically best for her. After delivering your baby, you will bleed and you will need maternity pads that are more absorbent that your usual period pads.

Disposable change mats are also good for the changing bag (sometimes you don’t want to use your changing mat when out and about if the changing facilities are dirty or if the baby has done a poo). While she was still bleeding a lot after giving birth, Karin also used these disposable change mats to sit on when on a sofa or armchair, and also had one in bed underneath her bottom in case she would bleed through. Karin felt she could relax a bit more knowing she didn’t have to worry about staining anything.

Karin used a tens machine for both labours and hired hers from Boots.

Nursing Clothes for You

For breastfeeding when out of the house some mothers want a bit more privacy and choose to use a cover. Nursing covers can also be useful when children are older and they get too distracted by what’s going on around them.

Karin’s recommendation is to not buy many or very expensive nursing bras until you know what your size will be once the milk has come in properly; it often takes a few weeks or more till your breasts have settled in terms of size. She wouldn’t buy anything expensive, because she doesn’t think it’s worth it – at least not to start off with. Karin would also go for comfort in terms of nursing bras; especially at the beginning. She found that once her daughter had been born, Karin favoured one type of nursing bra because she found it easier and better to use which is also why she wouldn’t stock up on loads beforehand.

Karin also had some fab nursing tops from H&M which washed very well. Hers were used with her two children and were also lent to two friends in between her two. They were still in good condition when they were returned for Karin to be used for her second baby.

Below is a list of a few companies that carry nursing bras and maternity clothes. There are of course many more options available to suit any budget. It can be worth checking TKMaxx online as they often have maternity clothes.

Clothes for Your Baby

For the first month, you usually need 0-1 month, and then 1-2 etc. Size 0-3 months clothes are usually too big when they are first born.

Karin would avoid buying lots of newborn size clothes because babies grow so fast, you don’t know what size your baby will be and people will give you so many presents (and often in a newborn size). Karin’s daughter was too big for several of the newborn pieces she had got her or had outgrown them in a week or two.

For first time mothers who feel anxious about putting baby clothes on, pulling their baby’s head through the top, feel anxious about supporting their baby’s head and neck whilst dressing them etc (that was Karin big time!), this type of design is great. They are also much easier to dress your child in as you them on top of it and fasten everything with poppers at the front. Super practical!

Karin’s daughter had massive feet as a newborn, so her recommendation is to get leggings without feet such as these. These are lovely because of the comfort and also because of the no feet you can get longer wear out of them too; you roll up or down the waist and bottom of the legs depending on how big your baby is, so you can use them for longer.

In general, you want to avoid clothes with too many buttons (unless they are poppers). Too much hassle and when your baby is screaming doing buttons feel like forever and you can get very stressed quite easily (especially if you are a first time parent). And, as one mother reminded Karin of when she was writing this: when you have a very poopy nappy, you want to pull down and not go over the head if you can avoid it. So true!

It is often a waste of money to get hats unless you can actually tie them underneath or on the side of the chin, because they will fall off all the time when your baby moves their head lying down. The majority of newborn hats look cute, but they are not that great in practice. In any case you will most likely get more than you bargained for in terms of gifts from family and friends.

Karin grew up wearing the clothes of Polarn O Pyret (POP) – a Swedish brand – and the quality is amazing. Polarn O Pyret hats are some of the best she has found, because they actually stay on.

These booties are great for winter; they are thermal and keep your baby’s feet warm and snug!

This kind of overall (they have warmer and cooler ones) is fab as you can easily unzip them when going indoors – which is especially important during colder months in order to avoid for overheating your baby – and you can much more easily get their arms and legs out even while they are sleeping without having to pick them up.

Oh, and Karin’s recommendation is to not buy more than one or max two blankets; you tend to receive many as gifts!

WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU…

• Bring straws to drink from during labour. It is hard to drink from a bottle or cup when you are having constant contractions.

• Pour warm water over your belly when you wee after you have had your baby or just wee in the shower – we know it sounds horrible but believe us when we tell you at that point you really don’t care about weeing in the shower! You will feel uncomfortable, it might hurt quite a lot and the warm water makes it sting less and thus makes it slightly less uncomfortable.

• The first poo after having your baby is usually a bit scary. If you have had any tearing and/or stitches you push in the same way/place as where you push to give birth. And if you have had a C-section, Karin’s friends tell her they felt like pushing out that poo made it feel like their stiches would break. It is not a great experience and can take some time before you feel a bit more comfortable doing a no 2.

• The first time/s you have sex after having your baby is often not very comfortable or even enjoyable. Everything changes internally and again if you have had stitches or tearing, you can be in pain. In fact, it can hurt for quite a while. For many couples, the first time/s are more to do it to get it over and done with, and that is completely normal and ok. Often women find it awkward having leaking boobs and they often find themselves uncomfortable with their postpartum bodies from a sexual perspective. Men can also find the leaking boobs a bit strange and they might also be scared that they are hurting you. Bottom line: Karin has pretty much never come across anyone who has found sex great or even that enjoyable immediately after giving birth. Some women find themselves ready to try more quickly than others do, so just go at your own pace. There is no right or wrong time, nor a right or wrong way. Communicating how you feel about it is key.

• 2-4 days after you give birth, your milk usually starts coming in and your hormones can go crazy. You might be completely overwhelmed, can’t stop crying, feel you can’t cope, might feel like ‘what have we done?’ etc. It is completely normal and usually passes after a while (a few days or sometimes a few weeks). However, should you feel that the sense of low, or that you just don’t feel right, that it is not lifting or that it is getting worse, please reach out for support either to your GP, health visitor or to Karin. Anything communicated to Karin is kept confidential and she will only ever share what you would like to her to share should she connect you with others be it medical professionals or other mums. Karin have a separate support group that she runs together with a psychotherapist for those suffering from PND (postnatal depression) or simply feel overwhelmed. Karin suffered from severe postnatal (including pregnancy) depression and anxiety. It is one of the reasons why she set up NW8-mums back in 2009 after the birth of her daughter. Please do not suffer in silence! Karin’s email is Karin@NW8mums-com.

• Your hair often starts falling out at some point after you have had your baby. It is completely normal and often starts happening once you start reducing the amount of breastfeeding or stop it.