The Calm Mama Co
Trusted resources
A short, current library. These are the places we send mothers for the evidence, for their rights, and for faith-centred and Muslim maternal health.
The resources here belong to the organisations and researchers who made them, and we point to them because they are sound. This list is deliberately short. Everything on it is credible, current at the time of writing, and worth your time, and each entry says plainly what it is and who it is for. External sites change, and evidence moves, so treat what follows as a starting point and read each source in full before you rely on it.
The evidence
Where to give birth, and what the research shows
Birthplace in England study
npeu.ox.ac.uk/birthplaceAn Oxford study of more than 64,000 low-risk births, comparing outcomes for mother and baby across home births, midwifery units and obstetric units. If you are weighing up where to give birth, this is the evidence to read, published in the BMJ and run by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit.
MBRRACE-UK
npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-ukThe national confidential enquiry into maternal deaths across the UK and Ireland, also run from Oxford. Its regular reports are the source for the figures on maternal mortality, including the differences by ethnicity and deprivation.
Your rights
Informed choice and self-advocacy
AIMS
aims.org.ukThe Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services, a charity going back to 1960. Clear, evidence-based information on your rights in pregnancy and birth, and practical tools for advocating for yourself. It takes no commercial sponsorship, which is part of why its guidance can be trusted.
Faith and community
Muslim maternal health
British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA)
britishima.orgA body of Muslim healthcare professionals working on Islamic bioethics and faith-informed care. BIMA has called publicly for maternity care that treats modesty, informed choice, female clinician preferences where possible and faith-sensitive bereavement as fundamentals of dignified care.
Muslim Women's Network UK
mwnuk.co.ukA national charity with a helpline, and the authors of Invisible, the most substantial account of Muslim women's maternity experiences in Britain. If you want to understand what the data on ethnicity leaves out, start here.
Maternal equity
Where racism meets maternity care
Five X More
fivexmore.orgA Black-led organisation working to change Black maternal health outcomes in the UK, with a strong focus on helping women make informed choices and advocate for themselves. Its Black Maternity Experiences reports sit alongside Invisible as first-hand accounts the official data does not capture.
Practical tools
For the body, before the birth
Squeezy
squeezyapp.comAn app designed by NHS pelvic health physiotherapists that reminds you to do your pelvic floor exercises and guides you through them, with a maternity programme built with midwives. It is a paid app, though several NHS trusts now offer it free during pregnancy and after birth, so ask your midwife first. It does one useful thing well.
Spinning Babies
spinningbabies.comA physiological approach to helping a baby settle into a good position for birth, built on balance, gravity and movement, developed by the midwife Gail Tully. The evidence is promising but still developing, and the techniques are best learned with guidance, so treat it as a helpful starting point and check anything you try with your midwife.
These sit behind the reading in The Barakah Birth Series, where the evidence and the faith are drawn together into a way of preparing for birth.
The Maryam Reflection Card
Her story, and the calm that answered it, sent to you now.
Unsubscribe at any time. Privacy policy.