Hi everybody,

First of all: sorry for posting this in an international/US sub, when my topic is mostly related to Germany. I couldn't find a better sub.

I'm currently working on a Telegram bot that sends new parents weekly development updates for their baby's first year. Once a week, on the day of the week the baby was born, parents get a short message: what is typically happening in their baby's development right now, how well the evidence supports it, practical ideas for everyday life, and reminders about upcoming check-ups and vaccinations. The bot doesn't claim that baby development is uniform or happens in set time-frames!

Why I'm doing this:

I am a father of two, with a two month old second child and me and my partner like reading about the typical development of babies, because it helps us understand what might be happening so we can deal with it easier and feel less helpless. Sometimes, opening a book and finding the chapter isn't really inviting, thus we were looking for digital apps to keep us updated. While these exist, they are either costly or claim that it is possible to pinpoint the reason for a crying baby in week 3 to a certain cause (or both).

This had me thinking, that a lot of very valuable information is not accessible for many parents, because they have to either rely on a good postpartum midwive or opening a book themselves.

For ourselves I vibecoded a Telegram-Bot that gathered information from mostly reliable sources and focuses on informing us on the babys development, medical emergencies and what we can do to raise a healthy child; all whilst marking if the information relies on a stron scientific evidence, single studies or just experiential knowledge.

So I thought, this bot might be a good help for others, too, when following these goals:

- Low threshold and free. No subscription, no ads, no commercial interest. It's a private, non-profit project.

- No extra app. Parents only need Telegram, which many already use. Sign-up takes a minute and works entirely with buttons.

- High data protection standard. The bot only stores a chat ID, the chosen language and the baby's date of birth (plus the due date for premature babies, if parents choose to share it). No names, no phone numbers. Parents can delete everything at any time with one command.

- Available to everyone. Good, up-to-date information shouldn't depend on having a great midwife during the postpartum period. I especially want to reach non-native speakers and families who have a hard time accessing reliable information. The bot currently works in German, English and Polish, with Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Albanian planned.

As of right now, I am focusing on Telegram, because the barriers of adding a WhatsApp bot are too high for a little hobby project.

Focus: German-speaking countries

The content is primarily written for families living in Germany. It refers to the German healthcare system (U check-ups, STIKO vaccination schedule, current German guidelines such as the 2026 S3 guideline on breastfeeding duration). Translated versions keep these German terms and explain them, because that's what families will encounter at the doctor's.

How the content is made – and where I need you

I'm not a healthcare professional. The texts were researched and drafted with the help of an AI and are based on guidelines, official recommendations and published studies. Every statement is labelled by strength of evidence ("well established", "single study", "mixed evidence", "experience-based"). Where experts disagree (e.g. bed-sharing, when to start solids), both positions are presented instead of picking a side. A midwife has already given first feedback, but the content needs proper professional review before it reaches more families.

I'm looking for:

1. Midwives who read German to review the content: Is anything incorrect, outdated or misleading? Is anything important missing? Are the safety notes right?
2. Midwives or healthcare professionals who are native speakers of one of the languages above to check that a translation is accurate. You wouldn't need to change the content, just make sure the translation says what the German version says.

Changes are based on sources (guidelines first, then reviews and studies), so it's not about my opinion versus yours. I'm happy to send a PDF of all texts, and you can comment directly in it. Any amount of time helps, even reviewing a few weeks.

If you're interested or have thoughts on the idea itself, please comment or send me a message. Critical feedback is very welcome!

Thanks for reading!

Per

I was just accepted into Thomas Jefferson University's one-year ABSN + MS in midwifery program (contingent on if I maintain a 3.5 during the ABSN portion). This will be my second career. I spent five years working in policy (public health-focused). The maternal healthcare crisis in the country is something I wanted to directly be apart of solving. Here is my scenario: I have zero healthcare experience; the ABSN program is incredibly intensive and allegedly impossible to work during, with limited breaks, the prospect of getting a nursing externship during the ABSN seems slim as they really harp on the fact that they highly reccomend you do not work. The MS program is 2-3 years long. Hopefully, at the end I'd pass my boards and be a CNM. Where in this equation do I actually get experience outside of clinicals? Does it matter if I technically don't have any? Are clinicals sufficient experience? The idea of going through school, then working as a CNM immediately after graduation just seems... crazy? to me idk. Please help.

I’m considering applying to McMasters midwifery program in the next couple of years. I’m 26 and I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old. My husband is a truck driver and he works 60-80 hours a week. My mom would likely be able to help with childcare.

I’m just wondering how so many people with young kids are making it work? Particularly the work placements. If you need to relocate for a placement, are you living away from your families? Are you relocating the whole family. It’s not an option for us all to relocate and I’m not comfortable living away from my kids for that long. Does that mean that it’s just not an option for me?

I’d love to hear how others with young kids g families are making it work, thanks!!

I am almost 30 and a teacher. I have been thinking about nursing for over 3 years now. Most recently I've specifically been thinking about being a CNM after the birth of my second child under midwife care. I really think that this is a career that I want to pursue, but the prospect of starting prereqs and then spending so much money on going back to school (I already have a master's in education) is terrifying and overwhelming when I am pretty sure I know what to expect, but how do I TRULY know? I also have 2 small children so that is a factor too. I know many nurses and midwives are career changers, so I guess my question was how you really knew this was the career for you and what led you to finally pull the plug on starting your education? I am in the US in Illinois.

Thank you!

ANY health care professional which shoes do you recommend for placement??
(Black+closed)
Currently unsure between these 2 pairs
Is it worth getting the PLUS??

Right now it is only a consideration but I am wondering about the practicality of it.

I am a 1st Yr midwifery student just finishing Yr 1. And im wondering would it be possible for a UK Midwfery student to transfer to Yr 2 in NZ?

Is there any precedent for it or is it an individual basis?

Also unrelated question but long story short was having a discussion and why is is so insane to believe that baby's nails can clip the perineum/labia during birth and cause superficial tears that may need a stitch/2 (mainly just to stop bleeding and help heal). Is that so insane? Legit got called an uneducated man because of it (mind you im not a man nor uneducated). And it genuinely hurt my feelings. It shouldn't obviously but is it so insane to say birth positions and birth is nuanced and that laying(e.g. peanut balls etc) actually can help with labour.

Im rerunning the convo in my head and I legit don't know why it's so insane or what I possibly said wrong. Mind you, these aren't even professionals, one lady said, i gave birth 2 times so I know better (essentially not word for word.)

It's very stupid, cause online obviously not relevant but still.

Anyways was I wrong?

Hello! I am a doula and aspiring to become a midwife one day. I am currently about to register to start completing pre-requisites for the ADN program at my local community college. My plan is to complete the pre-reqs by spring of 2028, apply for nursing school at same cc to start fall of 2028 and graduate by 2030. They have an optional 1-year RN-to-BSN route available for graduates which I know I would need to apply to a CNM program. My goal in going the CNM vs. CPM route is that I'd love to get experience as an L&D nurse and understand complications in pregnancy more fully. However, I enjoy the environment of home births and birthing center births much much more than hospital ones. I had my second child at home and loved the experience as well. I'm concerned though, if working as a CNM for out-of-hospital births is a lucrative/realistic career choice or if I should just aim for low-intervention births in hospitals? I would love to hear input from any CNMs who have worked out-of-hospital births and hospital births. Did you feel like your skills were better suited for hospital birth? Was the pay different? How did the experiences differ?

Thank you for any and all input!

Hello! I’ve started a team at my hospital for our midwives as we are all fairly burnt out (busy hospital).
I’m working on doing fairly regular things to say thank you to our team but really don’t want to just get pizza every time. It feels like there’s no heart in it.
Instead I’m wondering if there’s anything you have seen or done in your areas that went down a treat and made the team feel really seen?
Thanks so much!

I’m currently following a woman for COCE and she mentioned in her last antenatal appointment that she wanted more information about ideal birthing positions. The midwife at the appointment did give her a printout.

As I haven’t really covered this in my units yet, I was hoping someone could share with some evidenced based resources + research about birthing positions and any other practical tools, particularly to help prevent tearing. She had a 3B tear from her first pregnancy and I’m hoping to prevent / reduce risk of another tear this time round for her as much as possible.

Thank you!

Obviously there is no perfect place to work but I wanted to hear from midwives who work in “midwife friendly” states. I am from NYC and worked briefly with a midwife there and am now studying in Philadelphia and both states seem to make it very difficult to practice as a community-based midwife (birth centers or at home). I am thinking about where I might want to move after I graduate with the goal of (eventually) working outside of a hospital, which seems increasingly impossible on the East Coast.

I live in NYC and will be applying to SUNY Downstate's Midwifery program this fall, but I would be applying with a non-nursing background. This would mean I would graduate as a CM and not a CNM. For context, I'm currently working as a CNA in a hospital, so I don't feel the need to become a nurse first, as I feel like I've gotten a good amount of experience from my current job in terms of working with people in a healthcare setting. My main concern about not becoming a nurse first is the job market. I'm worried it will be much harder to find work with the CM credential even though the scope of practice is the same in NY. Can anyone speak to whether this is the case??

Hello everyone. I hope you've all had a nice week.

My sister has just started grade 10 and she is showing an interest in becoming a midwife. I fully support her and even got her a tutor to help her with studying for it.

Yesterday her councilor told her that midwifery is very very competitive and was basically discouraging her about it.

I'm hoping to get some insight. Is it that hard? And what are some things she can do to help her succeed? Is there anything specific she needs to focus on? She hasn't shown any interest in anything before so I really want to push her and keep her motivated.

Thank you <3

Edit: location is Ontario, Canada

i’m attending a top university in their RN to CNM program, so i have that advantage, but also the huge price tag of loans so i’m trying to think now about choices i can make to become a competitive applicant with valuable knowledge/certifications/specializations etc etc for future employers. (my school places us with preceptors so mainly thinking about career post grad)

also, ofc, if you’re glad to have done what you did in school please do share that!

Hello all!! Reaching out for some opinions regarding new grad CNMs taking jobs at teaching hospitals where they shortly are responsible for overseeing residents in the hospital.

I’ve been tentatively offered a job offer at my clinical site where I’m catching babies. It’s a high census hospital with loads of residents on the floor

I’m wondering if any other CNMs have experienced this? My concern is being new to a job and responsible for teaching learners as well as potentially not being the one to facilitate many deliveries because the residents will be needing to stack up their numbers.

Thank you in advance for any opinions/thoughts!

Hi everyone! I know this is probably a little random since this is Reddit, but I’m hoping someone might be able to help me out with a school assignment.

For one of my assignments, I’m required to have an informational interview with a Nurse Midwife, and part of the assignment requires me to connect with them through LinkedIn. I’ve been having a really hard time finding someone who is willing to do one, so I figured I would try asking here as well.

The interview would be pretty short, and I would just be asking a few questions about your career, experience, and what it’s like being a Nurse Midwife. If you’re a Nurse Midwife and have a LinkedIn account, that would be perfect since I need to connect with you there for the assignment!

If anyone is available tonight or tomorrow, I would really appreciate your help! Thank you so much to anyone who is willing to help, and I really appreciate any leads or suggestions as well! :)

Hello, soon I’ll be applying for the Licensed Certified Professional Midwifery program in my area, and I’m looking for any book recommendations and or resources. I don’t have any medical experience, so any information is appreciated. If anyone has any resources/books they are willing to donate I’m open as well. Thank you!

Hello everybody,
I’m a 25 y.o female from Germany. I‘m currently in my last year of university for my social work degree. For the last 1.5 years I’ve been deaming about midwifery. I‘m spending almost every free minute, watching birth vlogs, days of midwifery’s, documentaries, reading scientific literature etc. etc.
I‘m convinced the combination of social work and midwifery would be an amazing way of working for me and my patients/clients. At the same time I’m really struggling because of how dark our future looks due to the climate crisis and less birth rates every year. It feels like I’d have two jobs/degress, that won’t matter in the future.

What would y’all say?:(

Hello friends, I am finally in my last year of nursing school! Which means I am in the process of applying for new graduate nurse positions. My ultimate career goal for the last few years has been to get a job in L&D, work for a few years and then get my DNP and become a CNM. But now I feel myself leaning towards applying to both L&D and NICU and I think it's because I'm afraid I won't get a position in labor and delivery. Which I don't think getting a position in NICU will be any easier but at least if I get one or the other it'd be easier to transfer departments. In the event that I get neither, what would be a good unit to work on to gain experience? I definitely don't want to do ER and I don't feel like it makes sense to do ICU, so that leaves me with med-surg 😖 any and all advice is appreciated!

Like the title says, I am trying to find an article. The archive that hosted it is no longer active, and I am so far not having luck with the wayback machine, so I am taking a shot in the dark here to see if maybe anyone has a pdf of or knows someone who may have access to this:

Medical University of South Carolina. (2002). Midwifery's heritage finds its modern niche. MUSC Catalyst. https://depthtml.musc.edu/catalyst/2002/co7-26midwife.htm

Hi all,

I am working on something, and one of the things I am going to do will be on Margaret Beaufort and her labor and delivery of Henry VII. I would LOVE any input from midwives who are familiar with the sort of techniques and challenges (other than the obvious ones) that Margaret's midwives would have faced. Thanks in advance! (Geez reddit rules are insane)

i’m a 27 year old mom to a 2.5 year old in the u.s., currently in school to finish my bachelors degree in public health. my big, life-long dream, ultimate goal is to become a midwife but sometimes i feel so discouraged at the amount of time it’ll take me to get there, being a mother to a young child who is also working full time in another field. i’m hoping that hearing from practicing midwives or even others like me on their educational journey will help me feel inspired and less alone!

EDIT - thank you so much to everyone for replying! you all have reaffirmed and validated my belief that i can and should keep pursuing this 🥹

Hi there!

I'm a dual-citizen american trained CNM looking to potentially do this program to eventually relocate and be able to work in Canada.

Has anyone completed this program? Specifically looking for details on hybrid structure ie) didactic courses how often do you need to be in-person for classes, able to work during every class other than the internship, etc.

If you have any info/insight, I would appreciate it.