Essential Midwifery Practice: Postnatal Care summarises the important developments in postnatal care in relation to recent policy and guidance and relates the recommendations to midwifery practice in a clear and easily understood manner. With contributions from experts in the field, this practical text provides a resource for postnatal service provision in both hospital and community, offering a framework to assist midwives understand the background to care.

With a focus on a woman and family centred philosophy, and community engagement models of care, this text explores issues including clinical care within the postnatal period, transition into parenthood, empowering parents, morbidity and postnatal care, the healthy newborn, and engaging vulnerable women and families.

Essential Midwifery Practice: Postnatal Care forms part of a series of books that succinctly address the needs of practising midwives on a number of contemporary issues.

• Includes up to date information on recent policy, including NICE guidelines
  
• Written by respected experts in the field
  
• Focused on women and family centered care
  
• For both hospital and community midwives

Sheena Byrom is a consultant midwife at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Central Lancashire.

Grace Edwards is a?consultant midwife at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust.

Debra Bick is Professor of Evidence Based Midwifery Practice, the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London.