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Journal Vol. 37, No. 1 — Listen with Grandmother

ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

Editorial: Silencing the grandmothers? Not AIMS!

Alex Smith welcomes you to the March 2025 issue of the AIMS journal, reminding us that our grandparents really did know a thing or two.

Why grandmothers deserve education and support – they are worth it!

Emerita Professor of Perinatal Education, Mary Nolan, reviews the research about the importance of grandmothers.

Becoming a grandparent

AIMS volunteer and Doula Anne Glover shares what it was like to become a grandparent for the first time.

Being a grandmother

Alex Chislett describes how watching her daughter take to motherhood has been one of the very best experiences in her life so far.

Grandmother’s day

Maddie McMahon wonders why we don’t seem to value grandparents very much in the UK, especially now that grandmothers and grandfathers are needed more than ever.

Being Nana

Salli Ward found that grandmotherhood expanded the love in her life - but also the worry!

Transition to grandmothering

As a nurse, midwife and lactation consultant, Anne Hemsley has been surrounded by babies, but that didn’t dent her excitement when each of her four grandchildren arrived.

Reflections on becoming a grandmother

Homoeopath Petra Wood explores her feeling of being ‘shunted’ up towards the ancestors when she became a grandmother.

The vital role of grandmothers in the perinatal period: A personal journey of connection and care

AIMS Trustee Ruksana Beigi, who had her baby during the pandemic, describes the vital role her mother played in easing her transition into motherhood after a very stressful experience in hospital.

Nature and nurture: a brief look at epigenetics and transgenerational trauma.

AIMS journal editor, and (almost) lifelong childbirth educator Alex Smith, reflects on transgenerational trauma and epigenetics.

Transgenerational trauma: a story of one Jewish family

Naomi Glass works as a Birth Story Medicine practitioner. In this article, Naomi shares her own family story.

Birth trauma: When birth feels like rape

With a brave and clear voice, articulating not just her own story but the untold stories of many thousands of other women, Jacqueline Edwards describes her experience of obstetric violence.

An interview with Sarah Odling Smee

Leslie Altic interviews midwife Sarah Odling Smee

What’s going on in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

An update from the AIMS Campaigns team

PIMS (Physiology-Informed Maternity Services) latest action!

The PIMS team takes us through the latest water birth research.

The latest UK maternity statistics: where to find them and what they can tell you

The AIMS Campaigns Team offers us this very useful Birth Activist Briefing.

What has the AIMS Campaigns Team been up to this quarter?

A quick glimpse at what the AIMS Campaigns Team has been doing since December.

Latest Content

Journal

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A Conversation with Kate Evans, aut…

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Events

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AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Rights i…

Join us for another in our new series of interactive online AIMS workshops, " Focusing on Rights in Pregnancy and Birth ". Tickets available here https://www.tickettailor…

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All Ireland Midwifery Conference

Maternity Care: Recognising Challenges and Building on Success https://inmoprofessional.ie/Course/Offering/2966#details

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ARM National Winter Meeting 2025

Speakers include: Dr. Claire Feeley Constance Chitiyo Ellie Fornelli https://www.midwifery.org.uk/event/arm-national-winter-meeting-2025/

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Latest Campaigns

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NICE Intrapartum Care - Water birth…

AIMS submitted comments on the draft NICE Guideline update on Intrapartum care for Water birth: second stage of labour (August 2025). You can read the the draft here You…

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AIMS Responds to NHS 10 Year Workfo…

NHS workforce planning needs to be fit for the maternity service The current system of NHS workforce planning in England is not delivering a safe, personalised and equita…

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What does the Government’s 10-year…

The Government’s 10-year health plan for England ‘ Fit for the Future ’, launched in July 2025, is the outcome of the large-scale ‘Change NHS’ consultation that began in…

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