Antenatal care

We advise women to self-refer to us using the self-referral forms or ask their GP to refer to our maternity services as soon as they suspect that they are pregnant. Please complete one of the following online referral forms:

Antenatal care

Badger Notes

We use the BadgerNet digital maternity notes system at our Epsom and St Helier maternity units. The Badger Notes App gives real time access to your maternity records. Please see our Badger Notes page for further information.

Watch our virtual tours of the Epsom and St Helier maternity departments.

We like to see women for the first booking-in appointment as early as 9 weeks of pregnancy. At this appointment your midwife will discuss all of the screening tests that are available to you in pregnancy which includes the ultrasound scans. This information is also available in a number of foreign languages - please see the 'Leaflets and additional information' section at the bottom of this page.

Most women follow a planned schedule of midwifery care which includes three ultrasound scan appointments.

10-13 weeks: first ultrasound scan (Nuchal Scan)
20-22 weeks: second ultrasound scan (Anomaly Scan)
36 weeks: third ultrasound scan (Growth Scan)

Mothers to be will receive all their antenatal scheduled appointments following their nuchal scan, all maternity appointments will be published onto their Badgernet Maternity Notes.

At each appointment, your baby’s growth and movements will be assessed to ensure good growth and development, along with check-ups on your own general wellbeing.

Antenatal care for low-risk women is shared by our Integrated Team Midwives to provide continuity of carer and your GP.

For women with more complicated pregnancies, care will be shared with one of our obstetric consultants or our different specialist services, depending on your specific needs.

Baby Buddy app

Download the free Baby Buddy 2.0 app, which features helpful information from each of the maternity units across South West London, including Epsom and St Helier Hospital.

Your parent journey starts here

During your pregnancy you will want to spend a little time discussing your hopes and feelings about parenthood, and how best to lay the foundation for a strong and loving bond with your baby. For more information about your journey and how we will work with you, please see Your parent journey starts here [pdf] 339KB.

Flu Vaccinations

It is highly recommended that you are immunized against influenza at the earliest point possible before or during your pregnancy. Our hospitals offer this service to all pregnant women, just ask in the early pregnancy unit or at your booking appointment. Please read this leaflet: Flu Vaccination for pregnant women - PHE information leaflet[pdf] 381KB and raise any queries you may have with your Midwife.

Pertussis/Whooping Cough

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs and airways. It causes repeated coughing bouts that can last for two to three months or more, and can make babies and young children in particular very ill. Whooping cough is spread in the droplets of the coughs or sneezes of someone with the infection. At Epsom and St Helier we can offer you a vaccination to protect you and baby following your 20 week scan. To book your vaccine at Epsom, please call the Appointment Booking line on 01372 735 367. To book your vaccine at St Helier, please call the Appointment Booking line on 0208 296 2542. Please read this leaflet: Whooping cough booklet - PHE information leaflet[pdf] 355KB.

Vaccinations for your baby - BCG

It's good to start considering if you would like your baby to be immunised against Tuberculousis after your baby has been born.If your baby is eligible for the BCG vaccination, you will be contacted by your local vaccination team in the weeks following birth. If you have not been contacted by the time of your 6 week postnatal check, please discuss this with your GP or Health Visitor. Please read these leaflets for more information: Public Health England TB BCG baby leaflet [pdf] 263KB

Infant development

We are here to support you and your family during your pregnancy and beyond, to help you establish a close and loving relationship with your baby to provide the best possible start in life.

During your pregnancy

Getting to know your baby starts long before they arrive. As your baby grows and develops they will start to hear you and those around you, and you will start to feel them move and react. Your midwives will ask about you and your baby at each appointment.

There are many ways you can start to develop a relationship, including talking to your baby, rubbing your bump and responding to your baby's movements, this interaction helps your baby's brain develop. The Baby Buddy app (opens in a new window) is a free mobile phone app for parents and parents-to-be with personalised content approved by doctors and midwives that spans from pregnancy right through to the first six months after birth, developed by Best Beginnings.

Once your baby has arrived

Our staff will support you to understand and care for your baby whilst in hospital and at home. Please see our Postnatal care section for further information.

The following videos, from the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative, provide a useful introduction:

We offer an antenatal infant feeding workshop and informal sessions before your baby arrives so you can talk to a healthcare professional about the best options for you to feed your baby. Find out more about our Infant feeding and colostrum harvesting service [pdf] 1MB.

Antenatal scans

Only one partner can attend antenatal scans with you. Unfortunately, children are not permitted to attend antenatal scans. Unfortunately, children are not allowed to attend antenatal scans. Check out our poster about Antenatal scan images [pdf] to see how you can request your ultrasound images.

Integrated Community Midwifery Teams

The teams of midwives will provide the majority of antenatal care to ensure continuity of carer for pregnant women, at either their GP surgery, health centres or at their local children's centres. After the birth of your baby and discharge from the hospital, your care will continue with the same team of midwives and will be planned according to your own needs.

Home birth

We have a dedicated home birth team of midwives, who offer individualised care alongside the Integrated community midwifery teams, to mothers who choose to give birth at home. Please either, self-refer by completing the online self-referral form or ask to be referred at your booking appointment.

Bump and Beyond: Free antenatal sessions for parents

Children and Family Health Surrey has launched free antenatal sessions for parents-to-be to attend from 28 weeks pregnant onwards.

The 'Bump and Beyond: the 4th trimester' NHS sessions are funded by Surrey Heartlands and take place at venues across Surrey.

Parents-to-be are invited to a single 2-hr session for free which covers:

the role of a health visitor
relationships
emotional wellbeing
feeding
safe sleep
a crying baby
and baby brain development.

Visit the Children and Family Health Surrey website to find out more and book online.

Antenatal classes and workshops

Our midwives offer a variety of antenatal classes and workshops at a range of venues discuss with your midwifery team regarding booking onto a session.

These classes are very popular and are generally booked up very quickly. If you decide that you would like to attend any classes, we advise you to book them as soon as possible after your 20 weeks scan appointment.

Please remember that you are entitled to take paid time off from your work for your antenatal care, including parentcraft (antenatal) and relaxation classes. This applies no matter how long you have been employed or how many hours you work per week.

Flyers

National Childbirth Trust (NCT)

NCT is the UK's leading charity for parents and run courses for parents, both before and after birth, led by NCT trained workers. They hold a variety of classes within the local area.

Please see the NCT website (opens in a new window) for further details.

Anaesthetic antenatal clinic

Anaesthetic clinics are held on Wednesday afternoons, for women with muscular, skeletal, surgical or anaesthetic complications. We aim to provide balanced information on pain relief options for labour; this is especially useful for women who suffer with back pain and have concerns about having an epidural in labour.

The clinics are run by anaesthetic consultants with assistance from midwives specialising in higher risk cases. You may be referred to the clinic from a consultant obstetrician or midwife.

Weight management clinic

Pregnancy provides you with the golden opportunity to make changes regarding your lifestyle, with immediate and long-term effects for you and your family. This is especially important if your body mass index (BMI) has been raised significantly.

We provide expert help and advice through weight management, dietary and healthy lifestyle changes. You’ll receive individualised care which promotes your dignity, respect for your wishes and achieve optimum outcomes for you and your baby.

In addition to exercise and nutrition information and monitoring, we will refer you to the Infant Feeding Team to be trained in expressing and storing your breast milk towards the end of your pregnancy.

Diabetes clinic

During normal pregnancy, there is a rise in hormones which causes your body to become relatively insensitive to insulin, the hormone your body produces to lower blood sugar. Some women cannot make sufficient insulin to overcome this insensitivity and so develop diabetes, which usually disappears after delivery.

If you are diabetic or at risk of developing diabetes in your pregnancy (gestational diabetes), you will be seen by the specialist doctor and midwife who will monitor the growth of your baby, and the treatment of your diabetes.

Early pregnancy assessment units

The early pregnancy assessment units at our hospitals are for patients in the early stages of pregnancy (up to 20 weeks). If you have concerns, such as bleeding vaginally, you may refer yourself to the service, or be referred by your GP, a midwife or from our A&E departments. Please make an appointment before attending the unit (details of how to do so are below).

You may be seen in the unit if you have:

Vaginal bleeding or pain under 20 weeks pregnant
Have had a previous ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy

St Helier Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU)

The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit at St Helier is open Monday to Friday:

9am -12 noon (by appointment only) located on the ground floor of E block (Women’s Health) at St Helier.

To make an appointment, please call 020 8296 2882

The clinic tends to be busy and the midwife may not be able to answer the phone during clinic times. If there is no answer, please leave a brief message and clear contact details on the answer machine and the midwife will return your call on the same day.

Epsom Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU)

The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit at Epsom is open Monday to Friday:

1.20pm to 3.20pm (by appointment only) It is situated on the ground floor in block L2 (Langley Wing). For advice or to make an appointment, please call 01372 735155. This is a voicemail service and will be answered between 8.30am-4.30pm Monday to Friday.

Please allow 24 hours for a midwife to return your call.

The clinic tends to be busy and the midwife may not be able to answer the phone during clinic. If there is no answer, please leave a brief message and clear contact details on the answer machine

If you need to be seen urgently outside of these hours or you are bleeding heavily, feeling unwell or in severe pain, please attend the Emergency Department.

At weekends and Bank Holidays please contact the 24 hour Pregnancy Advice Line on 030 0123 5473.

Maternity assessment units (MAU and MATAU)

Both hospitals have a midwife-led maternity assessment unit for monitoring of a variety of conditions such as blood pressure, suspected waters breaking, reduced fetal movements, or itching.

St Helier

Our Maternity Assessment Unit (MAU) at St Helier provides an appointment only service for women who are at least 20 weeks pregnant and have either been referred by a health professional or have a concern themselves regarding their pregnancy. The unit is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.00pm and accepts women until 4.30pm every day.

Epsom

At Epsom, our Maternity Assessment Unit (MATAU) is by appointment only but these can usually be made for the same day. To make an appointment at Epsom, please call 01372 735264 or 07975 232375 (please do not leave a voicemail on the unit's mobile number). The unit is situated in the Antenatal Clinic in block L2 (Langley Wing), and is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.

Out of these hours, please call the Pregnancy Advice Line 030 0123 5473.

Out of these hours, please call the Delivery suite on 01372 735208/5247.

Fetal medicine and ultrasound scanning

Our fetal medicine team will ensure that any risk of abnormality is identified. In addition to ultrasound scanning and screening for Down's Syndrome, we offer other tests including Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS), SAFE test and Amniocentesis if required.

Mental health and substance misuse clinics

The Maple Clinic specialises in providing one-to-one care during the antenatal period for women with mental health conditions or a history of alcohol and drug misuse.

Our sensitive and confidential service provides individual care, and you will see the same team of midwives throughout the antenatal period, to provide continuity of carer.

We encourage women who attend the clinic to play an active role in identifying what support and assistance is required to meet their specific needs.

Feeding your baby

For more information about feeding your baby, including our infant feeding service, please see our dedicated Infant feeding section.

'From bump to breastfeeding' video

We would like to encourage our expectant and new mothers to watch a 35-minute documentary produced by child health charity, Best Beginnings, developed in collaboration with the Department of Health, entitled 'From Bump to Breastfeeding' (opens in a new window).

The documentary follows real mothers across the UK in their journey from pregnancy to birth to breastfeeding their new babies. The documentary is a fantastic resource, covering everything from the practical aspects, such as how to get your baby positioned and attached correctly, to social things like breastfeeding in public.

We feel that this is a really useful resource for mums-to-be, with some information which may have not occurred to you. Most importantly, the more information you have available, the more empowered you feel to make the right decision for you and your baby – this is what’s most important for us.

How lactation works video

The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM) have also put together a really useful video about how lactation works.

This five minute video provides information about breastmilk, lactation and breastfeeding.

Leaflets and additional information

Screening tests for you and your baby (opens in a new window)

Other languages

For those who are visually challenged, please find links to audio versions of these leaflets below:

Antenatal scan images

Antenatal scan images poster [pdf] 151KB

During COVID-19, your baby's movements are as important as ever

Even when you are self-isolating it’s vital you report reduced movements immediately.

A change in your baby’s movement can be an important warning sign that your baby is unwell. Around half of women who had a stillbirth noticed their baby’s movements had slowed down or stopped.

Poster about the importance of baby's movements during COVID-19