This commentary critically appraises a systematic review that assessed the impact of antenatal education on pregnancy (physical and mental health) outcomes, and on physical health outcomes for infants in the perinatal period. The commentary considers the review's findings alongside other existing related research, which may provide insights for the further development of antenatal education, and the latent potential to improve outcomes for prospective parents and infants.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) poses a significant global health challenge, with a prevalence ranging from 10-25%, making it one of the most prevalent complications of pregnancy. The rates vary across countries, ethnicities, and diagnostic thresholds. In the UK alone, GDM affects approximately 35,000 pregnancies annually, reflecting an escalating trend. Elevated blood glucose levels in pregnancy exhibit a linear correlation with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes, contributing to complications such as large for gestational age babies, increased caesarean section rates, shoulder dystocia, neonatal hypoglycaemia, intensive care admissions, and stillbirth. While any woman can develop GDM, well-established risk factors include a body mass index (BMI) above 30, maternal age over 40, previous GDM instances, a history of delivering babies weighing over 4.5kg, and specific ethnic backgrounds. This commentary discusses the Cochrane umbrella review by Griffith et al. (2020), which evaluates the effectiveness of various lifestyle-focused interventions commonly employed for GDM prevention. Given the multitude of risk factors, early interventions before or during pregnancy hold promise in mitigating the likelihood of GDM development.

Infertility is a widespread issue which is estimated to affect up to 17.5% of the global population. Evidence suggests that the most common causes of female infertility are ovulation disorders (e.g., polycystic ovary syndrome). That said, lifestyle factors such as dietary patterns, stress, alcohol consumption, smoking, and obesity are key determinants which have been shown to impact female physiology and significantly decrease the chances of conception. Obesity has been widely recognized as a significant factor that negatively impacts ovarian stimulation in women and is associated with several reproductive disorders, including anovulation, subfertility, and infertility. Despite improvements in fertility treatments, obesity remains a challenge particularly for fertility clinics because of the poorer pregnancy outcomes observed within the population. In this article, we will explore the effects of weight loss on female fertility and review the various strategies that have been shown to be effective in reducing obesity and improving reproductive outcomes.

Obesity is a well-established risk factor for infertility. Consequentially, women living with obesity may require fertility treatment to support them to conceive. Due to evidence suggesting obesity is also linked with poorer outcomes following in vitro fertilisation (IVF), local commissioning guidelines on assisted conception recommend a BMI of <30kg/m[2] before IVF can commence. However, it is currently unclear if these guidelines are evidence based. This commentary aims to critically appraise a recent systematic review by Sermondade et al, 2019 and expand upon the implications of the findings for clinical practice.

In the UK, more than 38,000 preterm infants are admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units every year. NICU stays, along with perceived vulnerability, have been shown to increase parental stress. Parental stress at this stage of infant development has been associated with a deterioration of the long-term parent-infant relationship. Parental stress may be reduced by early educational, behavioural, and psychological support interventions. However, there is a dearth of literature that has synthesised whether these early discharge (supported transfer to home) interventions are clinically effective. This commentary aims to critically appraise a recent systematic review by Hamer et al, 2022 and expand upon the implications of the findings for clinical practice.

Report review runs alongside Guideline commentary and the other evidence series articles, examining local, national and international reports that have implications directly or indirectly for midwives. It helps readers to understand what reports mean for midwifery practice and to place report recommendations into context. As with all our evidence series articles, report reviews support you to critique recommendations and implications for your own practice. In 2016, Ireland launched its first ever maternity strategy (Department of Health (IDH) 2016). This followed many high-profile controversies, including maternal and neonatal deaths due to medical misadventure. This article reviews Ireland's history of maternity services, the new strategy and current perinatal mental health services.

Most women within their lifetime will experience pregnancy, birth and motherhood. Despite this almost universal experience, the process is far from uniform. Throughout the childbirth continuum, expectations and experiences of women are diverse and ever-changing (van Teijlingen et al 2017). THis article explores an innovative idea, well placed within this 'Shiny roads' edition of The Practising Midwife. It explores the birth of the EMPOWER project within a NHS trust. EMPOWER was developed to empower mothers and provide options, education and relaxation for pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period.

In this article I discuss the value and importance of presentation skills for midwives and offer recommendations for how to enhance these skills in practice. My aim is to support your development and confidence in delivering presentation. I include a series of practical tips to help you improve your preparation, content and delivery of future presentations, for greater personal confidence and impact.

The Midwifery Unit Network (MUNet) is a community of practice which aims to promote and support the implementation and improvement of midwifery units (MUs) in the UK and internationally. It was launched in April 2016 and has been growing fast since its inception. In this article, three co-leads of MUNet describe why they set up the network and how they established it. The aim of the article is to inspire more midwives to consider establishing a community of practice, and to offer some guidance in doing so.

Becoming a midwife is the 16th series of 'Midwifery basics' targeted at practicing midwives and midwifery students. The aims of these articles is to provide information to raise awareness of the impact of professionalism on women's experience, consider the implications for midwives' practice and encourage midwives to seek further information through a series of activities relating to the topic. In the final article of the series, Jancis Shepherd explores some of the challenges of becoming an accountable practitioner.

This occasional series aims to share, discuss and promote midwifery in a global context. Midwifery is a truly global profession and even those of us who work solely in the UK will care for women from many different cultures; these articles reflect the experiences of midwives and students working in both the UK and in Asia, Australasia, Africa and Europe. The first few articles of the series have been developed by students undertaking a global maternity module at The University of Leeds. Each of these articles will be presented in a two-part format: a feature in print and an accompanying reflection hosted on our website. We encourage you to review both to support your full engagement with the series.