Midwifery Led Unit, Drogheda

20/11/2025

Some of our wonderful team attended the All Ireland Annual Midwifery Conference in Antrim today gaining an insight into the hot topics and new research in midwifery ✨

19/11/2025

Earlier this week we celebrated World Premature Day on the 17th of November 💜

This years theme was;
𝐻𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝐻𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈

A strong start isn’t just about survival – it’s about honouring the promise of every tiny life. It’s about giving these babies the chance not only to survive but to thrive and one day, transform the world 🌎

The main aim of the Day is to raise awareness of the impact of preterm birth and advocate for quality care for every baby who is born too soon 💜

19/11/2025

Following the loving care they received after the death of their baby Theo, and the wonderful care following baby Ayda’s birth, Sinead and Conor returned to our maternity unit with a massive donation. We are overwhelmed by their kindness💕

15/11/2025

Baby Rebecca going home with her parents Seban and Anju 💞
Baby Rebecca was born on the 3/10/2025 weighing 1.09kg ⚖️
She spent 41 days in our Special Care baby unit and now weighs 2.09kg 🎀
Thanks to all the staff who helped and supported their wonderful journey 🌸

06/11/2025

There is space in tonight’s antenatal labour and birth class between 17:30-20:00 ⏰
If you would like to book in please contact Emma on 0879543898 ☎️

09/10/2025

This week from the 9th-15th of October marks Pregnancy Loss Awareness Week 🦋

This is an important time to reflect, remember, and raise awareness of the impact of pregnancy loss on families and communities.

This week acknowledges all those who have experienced the loss of a baby, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth, termination or neonatal death. Every loss is deeply felt, and every story matters.

The week concludes with the Wave of Light on October 15th, when candles are lit around the world in memory of babies gone too soon 🕯️

If you have been affected by pregnancy loss, support is available through your healthcare team or specialist organizations such as:

Féileacáin
https://feileacain.ie/

A little lifetime foundation
https://www.alittlelifetime.ie/

The Miscarriage Association of Ireland;
https://miscarriage.ie/

LMC Bereavement Support
https://lmcsupport.ie/

07/10/2025

Smiles and celebrations all around for National Breastfeeding Week 🤱🏻

This year's National Breastfeeding Week runs from October 1st to 7th, with the theme: “Hold me close: The power of skin-to-skin contact.” Breastfeeding plays a vital role in your baby's health, providing all the nutrients they need in the right balance to grow strong and healthy.

Roughly 63% of women initiate breastfeeding nationally, here in the MLU we are very proud of our most recent breastfeeding rates which showed a breastfeeding initiation rate of 88% among MLU mums with 77% of our mums exclusively breastfeeding at Day 7.

This is down to the wonderful work of our lactation team, parent craft team and our dedicated midwives who work together to provide antenatal education in person & online, promote antenatal colostrum harvesting, provide colostrum harvesting packs, support skin to skin, carry out postnatal home visits, daily phone check ins, attend study days, training & skills updates and pump rental schemes to name a few.

What are the benefits of breastfeeding?

For Mum 🤰🏼
- Breastfeeding helps your uterus (womb) return to normal size more quickly
- Helps you bond with your baby, reduces your risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and diabetes
- Saves you time and money, it is convenient at there is no need to carry bottles and formula with you when out and about, it is ready when baby needs it at the perfect temperature with no need to sterilise.
- Burns calories and may help you regain your pre-pregnancy weight.

For baby 👶🏽
- Helps to protect your baby from illnesses such as chest, ear and tummy infections.
- Reduces your baby’s risk of constipation or an upset tummy
- Reduces the risk of obesity for your baby when they are older
- Can help to lower your baby’s risk of food allergies

If Parents or parents-to-be have any queries about breastfeeding they can ask questions by email or live chat through the ‘Ask our breastfeeding expert’ service on mychild.ie:

https://www2.hse.ie/babies-children/breastfeeding/ask-our-breastfeeding-expert/

You can also speak to your midwife at your next appointment 📆

For information on breastfeeding support groups in your area please follow this link:

https://www2.hse.ie/services/breastfeeding-support/

07/10/2025

The new National Survey on Infant Feeding Support Services is now live. We would like to invite women at any stage of their pregnancy or postnatal journey to complete the online form 🩵🩷

https://redcap.ucc.ie/surveys/?s=84DTYC3MYTATP8HN

06/10/2025

🔈Exciting Announcement 🔈

MLU is now running an antenatal clinic in Navan.
We celebrated our first clinic day in Navan on Friday the 3rd of October. Our first client was glowing mum to be Rachel who is pictured below with some of our team including our CMM2 Fiona, CMM3 Adrienne and 4th year student midwife Jayne 💕

The Navan clinic is located in the Outpatients department in Navan hospital and will be run from there every Friday 🤰🏼

We are so delighted to be able to deliver and grow our services out into the community. We also run clinics in Balbriggan, Dundalk, Carrickmacross and Drogheda to cater for as many women as possible. If you wish to attend one of these clinics please speak to your midwife at your next appointment👩🏻‍⚕️

Please spread the word 🗣️

02/10/2025

09/09/2025

We would like to congratulate 🎊 Baby Holly 👶 Today she is heading home from the neonatal unit. Holly was born at 26 weeks and 2 days, she spent 96 days in hospital before graduating to her wonderful new life at home 🏡 ❤️ Best of luck to Holly and her family ✨️✨️

07/09/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1M9nbZANfy/

The BabyTalk Initiative is a groundbreaking project aimed at enhancing the early development and wellbeing of the most vulnerable babies across the nation.

Developed by a team at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, it focuses on supporting early language habits in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) by encouraging those around them to “Speak, Read and Sing” to newborn babies.

Louth County Council