Welcome to the home of
The Village Midwife
antenatal & postnatal courses
Find your ‘village’ at our
5 star rated antenatal course,
taught by midwives across the UK
“This is by far the best course you could choose! I promise!
There is no judgement on what you may think, feel or
anticipate doing when baby comes - that’s a really key point
as you can often feel pressure from people and
other courses to do something in the ‘right’ way.
There isn’t one and that’s so empowering!”
Join us for a fresh perspective on birth and new parenthood and come away feeling excited
Making a group of friends at the same stage as you is a given, but you deserve to come away feeling fully informed about the journey ahead
“The most informative, useful and lovely way to prepare for
birth and beyond. We used so much information before and
during labour - I genuinely don’t think I would have got through
my birth as positively without this antenatal course”
The Village Midwife antenatal course is not only relaxed and friendly but is also realistic preparation for having a baby as it is written and taught by an experienced midwife.
You deserve to feel positive, confident and empowered going into your birth experience and life with your new baby. Not only do you get a thorough handout of information alongside online resources and videos when you do The Village Midwife antenatal course, but you get ongoing WhatsApp support with any questions that might come up from the midwife teaching your course - invaluable!
Scroll down to find your closest course location or read our FAQs
Hi, I’m Sophie!
The Village Midwife was born in 2018 after I had my own son. Hearing mums at baby groups saying “I wish I’d known…” or “I wasn’t allowed…” made me want to reinvent antenatal courses. I wanted people to go into their birth experiences knowing their full range of options as well as feeling empowered, positive and prepared. I also wanted to create a community of new parents who could support each other and bring back that sense of a 'village' that I felt we were lacking. So I sat and wrote a course while my son napped (mainly in coffee shops or in a sling!) and the rest is history.
After lots of midwives started asking to teach my antenatal course in their area, I started training them in the course and now we are constantly setting up new locations across the country which is amazing and something I never anticipated! I'm so proud of where we are and the impact we make on people's birth and postnatal experiences and I feel endlessly privileged to be a small part of so many parent's journeys.
Anyway, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a message via our contact form and Robyn or myself will reply. Alternatively you can always message me on Instagram (no question is a silly one!) but otherwise - welcome to The Village Midwife community!
Follow me on instagram to see what we’re up to at The Village Midwife HQ:
Where can you do our antenatal course?
Buckinghamshire
Great Missenden & Wendover in Buckinghamshire - taught by Sophie
Hughenden, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire - taught by Sophie
Oving, North of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire - taught by Hannah
Oxfordshire
Wallingford & Didcot in South Oxfordshire - taught by Jenni
Bicester in North Oxfordshire - taught by Jenni & Clara
Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire
Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire - taught by Aimee
Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire - taught by Aimee
South East
Kingsclere in North Hampshire - taught by Nikki
Portsmouth in Hampshire - taught by Claudia
Brighton in East Sussex - taught by Alice
East Midlands
Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire - taught by Laura
West Midlands
Worcester in Worcestershire - taught by Lisa
Henley-in-Arden in South Warwickshire - taught by Kate
South West
East of England
South Suffolk and North Essex - taught by Sophie
Colchester in Essex - taught by Chelsea & Sophie
North of England
West Yorkshire - taught by Miriam
“One of the most refreshing things that struck us both was the positivity, the options that you have, and how encouraging the information was. Everything felt ‘pro’, and we’ve finished the classes feeling far more capable and calmer about so much. We’ve also been able to finalise some decisions, thanks to the information provided from the course. Genuinely, The Village Midwife is brilliant and we cannot recommend it enough - everyone should have access to this type of support network!”
FAQs about The Village Midwife antenatal courses
What does the antenatal course cover?
Our antenatal course includes:
Making decisions during pregnancy
Place of birth and what your options are locally
The hormones of labour & physiology behind labour
The different stages of labour and how it progresses
Pain relief options; pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical e.g. aromatherapy
Breathing techniques to use during pregnancy and labour
Birth options and writing your preferences down
Active birth and techniques to make labour more comfortable
Lots of techniques for your birth partner to use to support you including massage techniques and using a rebozo scarf
What can happen when birth doesn’t go to plan
Induction of labour and making it as positive and successful as possible
Caesarean birth options and writing a caesarean birth plan
A session on birth videos to help you visualise different scenarios and the techniques you might use to help yourself
What happens after the birth of your baby in different scenarios: including in hospital and at home
Postnatal changes to your body; physical and emotional
Writing a postnatal plan for you and your partner
Your different options for feeding your baby; including a variety of options (breastfeeding, expressing, formula feeding)
Common challenges with feeding and how to overcome them
Where you can reach out for support locally with feeding
Baby care; including bathing, nappies, cord care, dressing baby, holding baby
Safe sleep and what a newborns sleep is like
Using a stretchy sling safely with your newborn baby
The fourth trimester with your baby
Responsive parenting
Answers to any of the many questions you might have!
I would like to do the course but finances are tight, what are my options?
Our discounts include:
A £25 discount for NHS staff (we have lots of doctors, midwives and nurses doing our courses!)
35% off for solo parents - our founder Sophie was a single mum when she had her son and at the time that she initially wrote the course and started teaching
Other options include:
Payment plans - these can be arranged by using the contact form and can be flexible according to what you need
Access to The Village Midwife Accessibility Fund - this is a fund set aside to allow people to access our courses. Lots of previous clients donate to it and our founder Sophie puts a portion aside into the fund each month to make sure that everyone can access an antenatal course. Everyone deserves good quality antenatal education and ongoing support to have a positive birth and fourth trimester with their baby and this is at the core of what we do at The Village Midwife.
Do you organise a post-course social meet up?
No we don’t - our groups are so social that they are all regularly meeting up for pub lunches, coffees and walks with the babies so it isn’t necessary!
Everyone gets added to a WhatsApp group during the course which are usually super chatty (and the midwife stays on this group to answer questions and see birth announcements) and then usually parents also make WhatsApp groups for mums and for partners which are even more chatty! Parents use these groups to organise lunches after sessions and meet-ups during the course as well as after.
In some areas, we also have our popular postnatal course which supports you through the first few months of your babies life and is super social!
How many people are in each antenatal group?
This depends on the location as we make sure there is enough space for everyone at the venue the midwife has chosen to teach in
As a rule, however, we have a maximum of 10 couples because we want everyone to have the chance to ask questions and the midwife needs to be able to support everyone via WhatsApp with questions after the course
Does the antenatal course include hypnobirthing?
The antenatal course includes some elements of hypnobirthing such as breathing techniques and other tools to help you relax during labour and create a positive mindset surrounding birth, plus a thorough understanding of the physiology behind birth
We know not everyone wants to cover hypnobirthing - so there is an optional relaxation exercise by Sophie, founder and hypnobirthing teacher, which is available to clients online
Most of our midwives also offer a 1:1 course in hypnobirthing. The 3-hour hypnobirthing course is only available to The Village Midwife antenatal clients because of the physiology and breathing techniques involved in the antenatal course. The 1:1 course involves 1:1 time to discuss your fears or worries and to go through hypnobirthing techniques in depth including relaxation scripts and visualisations
What makes The Village Midwife course different?
Some of the main differences between ours and other antenatal courses are:
The course length and the wide variety of the topics covered helps us stand out from other antenatal courses
It is 50% birth-focused and 50% focused on the postnatal period as we believe that preparation for life with your baby and recovery is just as important as preparing for different birth scenarios within the NHS
Our course is taught by a midwife which some other antenatal courses aren’t, meaning you are taught about birth from the professionals who look after parents during their pregnancy and birth of their baby. This means all of your questions can be asked about different scenarios and technicalities, options within the NHS and outside the NHS and you’ll get an honest opinion from a midwife who has the experience to back it up!
You also get ongoing support via WhatsApp from the midwife teaching your course with any questions you have as your pregnancy progresses or after your baby has arrived
As well as online resources and videos we also have a thorough (and very visual) handout of information to take home which clients cover with notes during the sessions and often read through a few times before they have their baby
Our course is a mixture of explanation of different topics, lots of time to ask questions, social time in the breaks, lots of activities during each session on different topics, and discussion to suit many people’s different ways of learning
We have input from other healthcare professionals into the design of the course, including obstetricians, anaesthetists, feeding experts, and babywearing consultants plus all of our collective midwifery knowledge!
The course is also shaped by the feedback from new parents about what they want included which keeps it up to date and very relevant to birthing in the current maternity system
Crucially, the course has a non-judgemental ethos at its core. We want you to have a positive birth and postnatal experience - whatever that looks like to you. What makes a positive birth is different from one person to another and we support your choice to make decisions that are right for you, as long as you have the information to support those decisions.
Is the course for partners as well?
Absolutely!
A huge part of our antenatal course is preparation for birth partners. It is crucial to equip birth partners to support you during labour and the postnatal period but it is also important for partners to feel prepared to make sure they have a positive experience of this crucial time themselves.
We get asked a lot whether the price includes your birth partner - yes, the price is for two of you
If your partner is unavailable for some of the sessions you are also very welcome to come along on your own, or bring someone else with you!
Similarly, if you are a solo parent you are welcome to join the classes on your own however you are encouraged to bring whoever is supporting you during labour so that they benefit from the course content!
Is it worth doing the course if I’m having a planned caesarean?
Yes absolutely! The antenatal course is for anyone planning any type of birth
Part of the antenatal course is discussing caesarean birth and what it involves, going through caesarean birth preferences and how to communicate these, plus an in-depth discussion of recovery from a caesarean birth! We also discuss the postnatal period, baby care and feeding - all of which are super relevant to any birth experience you may have
Plus, you make a supportive group of friends due at the same time as you and get the ongoing support of the midwife teaching your course - both are invaluable
What if I have to miss a session of the antenatal course?
You have a few options:
You can catch up using the handout and online resources which have plenty of information in so that you don’t miss out
You can organise a 1-1 catch-up session with the midwife teaching your course. There is a cost for this as the midwife organises a time to come to your home, however, people find this very valuable and often book one of these sessions without missing a session!
You can sometimes join the equivalent session on one of the other antenatal courses before your due date if there is space or at another location if there is one close by!
I’m unsure which course to do based on my due date - how do I choose?
The different location pages on the website will suggest which course might be right for you based on your ‘due month’ however it is up to you if you wanted to do it earlier or later for any given reason - we leave it up to you to choose what feels right for you
If you’re stuck, drop us a message on our contact form for advice and we can help!
Want to find out more? You can have a read of our 5 star reviews over on Trustpilot or drop us a message via our contact form if you have any other questions!
“I feel more empowered now to make the birth preferences that feel right for me, and my partner feels more confident in advocating for me too. Not only did we cover labour and baby care, but I think really importantly the postnatal period was covered in detail as-well, something that I don’t think is covered enough in normal antenatal care. A fab course that I’d recommend to all mums and dads to be!”