Instamums 3, 2.0

[blackmirror1]

Seeing as the original 3 got zapped.

I've been lurking on this post with some interest for a while and wanted to speak up about the NMC and professionalism.

Re: gifting, this applies to gifts you receive in your capacity as a midwife/nurse. If MOD receives gifts from women and their families she would be obligated to declare it to her employer. If a brand sends a gift to her as an instagrammer/blogger then as a midwife she is not required to declare this on her Instagram. Whether she should declare it as a blogger has been debated at length on the thread already.

MOD declares on her Gas and Air blog that her views are hers as an individual and not a professional.

Midwives and nurses are answerable to the NMC and are held to account for their actions. I think that MOD in her capacity as a midwife is very professional on her Instagram. Whatever you think of her advertising/PR strategies, I don't think it's fair to question her professionalism with regards to the NMC. It appears she takes Midwifery very seriously and no doubt she has sought advice from her employer about her limitations and boundaries, particularly as she has authored two books as a midwife.

@FlyingBird - ah yes, I remember the Zoella thing from on here. I work with teenagers and I think if I have more of a pastoral role again I will start asking more questions and finding out who they follow, who they like, and why: it’s fascinating! All too often we are just supposed to be telling them to be safe online and having training telling us we can’t ever hope to keep up with their social media and apps and cyber bullying/porn opportunities. It would be good to get more information from them. And I wonder how much it will have changed when DS is online in a few years.

Also re: social media and the NMC because my post got cut off!

MOD does not break patient confidentiality in her social media posts. The only post I have seen is the one with Clemmit Telford who is also her friend.

MOD also doesn't dish out advice publicly on her Instagram. She posts awareness about birth experiences and prematurity for example, but doesn't go around encouraging women to do or not do certain things.

I can agree that the lines may sometimes seem blurred between midwife and instamum. However if MOD had broken the NMC code, she would be brought up on it and reprimanded for it.

@DomesticDrudge I suppose it depends on the work he produces? I imagine/ would hope they are measuring that. People dick about at work and home in my experience.

If he's meeting his targets and completing all his work in the given time. It doesn't matter how much time he's dicking around

From my personal experience working in a regulated profession I don’t think the boundaries are as ‘neat’ as a code to act ethically only applying when you’re acting in your professional capacity.
But I think my main point in all of this is that parents aren’t thinking through the impacts of the decisions they are making on their children. Anxiety and mental health issues are massively on the rise amongst children, particularly teenagers and I can’t see how being constantly stuck on social media throughout childhood so your parents can make a profit is likely to be a positive contribution to a child’s long term mental health. These issues won’t show up for a long time by which time it will be very hard to undo the damage. And that’s general observation rather than being aimed at any specific blogger. And now i’m stepping away to go to sleep, i’ve gotten too drawn into this.

@domesticdrudge just today I've had my 14 year old go through old photos online with a 'oh my god mum how could you?' 'I look so awful' and that is on a private Facebook page I no longer put photos on. And the photos in my opinion are lovely. But teenagers see things differently.

Some comments on here are verging on being dangerous and seem to be a very personal attack on someones professional registration.

I find it shocking that people on here seem to want to destroy other people lives and careers.

putting into question someones professional practice and registration is very serious!

If you have any serious concerns about someones practice you follow the proper procedure of reporting it to their regulating body.

Shame on some of you!

I don’t (and have never, nor will ever) follow MOD but I find it astonishing that she’s allowed to practice as a midwife whilst having this massive online presence. It just seems really wrong.
Why? Presuming she doesn't disclose any confidential information for example, why wouldn't she?
There's nothing wrong with putting yourself out there in a general sense.Picture wise, life style wise.

If you a midwife, be a fucking midwife. If you want to dick about on social media/get free holidays (even though she can afford them and really doesn’t need a freebie)
That all smacks of total jealousy, sorry.

I find it shocking that people on here seem to want to destroy other people lives and careers.putting into question someones professional practice and registration is very serious! If you have any serious concerns about someones practice you follow the proper procedure of reporting it to their regulating body.Shame on some of you!

Cross post! Thank fk,a voice of reason. This thread is insane!

I can assure you I am not jealous. It’s a massive cop out to pull that card. I don’t need to be jealous of anyone, I have a great life and I’m very happy so please don’t be so damn patronising.

It’s just this inane drivel that is so damn boring

She’s a trained midwife, she’s clearly bright and educated and all of that good stuff and she’s financially very stable and really doesn’t have the same worries that a lot of people have

And yet she won’t disclose that she gets paid to go on a holiday and review it. Why?

For me the two personas that she has just don’t marry up.

mic drop

I can assure you I am not jealous. It’s a massive cop out to pull that card. I don’t need to be jealous of anyone, I have a great life and I’m very happy so please don’t be so damn patronising

I'm not being "damn patronising",just stating how it comes across.
So what if she can "afford it?
If she gets to be able to promote a brand on her social media, so what? Thanks to this thread, I've gone and had a look. (More traffic for her then,own goal? ) Her holiday posts clearly say ad. If the sponsor is willing to give out a holiday in return for promotion on her media, is she supposed to just turn it down because she could "afford it?"
Sure you'd do the same if you were in her shoes, no?

@Softkitty2 Agree completely and have reported the posts containing massively inflammatory and potentially professional career ending slander. It completely smacks of jealousy. Will people only be happy if she is removed from the NMC register and he's fired for 'dicking around at home?' There is absolutely no basis for this.

As a long time lurker and occasional poster I feel that with these highly personal attacks the message and conversation behind the real concerns gets lost....

Ie, 1) transparency in #ads
2) child safety/ consent.

Some of you are unhealthily obsessed with MOD. It’s creepy.

I too was disappointed in Mrs Meldrum 's instastory about sponsorship and gifts. Saying she doesn't 'really do' #gifted is just such a cop out. I know she may not be actively talking about the things she has been given all the time but you see them in her content so it's a form of product placement and is still advertising. Just seems a nice way of getting loads of stuff from brands whilst keeping her audience in the dark about where it's all come from so they don't feel alienated.

Such a shame as I really do like her generally, but this kind of behaviour really does annoy me.

@annawoolfworries I agree. I find her engagement with followers appalling, from a PR point of view, and I’m genuinely concerned about advertising transparency on social media. However, I’m not comfortable with last night’s probing into her career and the nasty personal comments - it devalues conversation about real issues.

’s really not fair to call into question a persons professional integrity based on the fact that they have a large social media following. Let’s just assume that like the rest of us, the people mentioned can separate their home and work lives.

This! How unfair. I have no personal experience of her as a midwife but know of people from the local area, through birth groups and online who have and from all accounts, she is spoken very highly of. Indeed, I’ve never seen anything online that suggests she breaks the professional standards of the NMC.

Again, certain comments on here smack of bitterness, jealousy or wanting to bring someone down in every way possible. A shame as that’s just not a nice way to behave and also completely undermines any serious points being made about instagrammers, advertising, gifting and the media

I don't like the turn this thread has taken overnight.

I’ve followed a lot of the women discussed here for three years. I unfollowed MOD about a year ago as the brand didn’t speak to me. Never followed FOD. The intense scrutiny & personal attacks on threads of nearly 3k posts is bonkers. Some fair points about #gifted & #ads but some of the “think of the children” “think of the their employers” stuff is a thinly veiled way of expressing hostility to someone who is a real woman and mother doing well. I think some posters won’t be happy until she’s bullied off social media and oddly, out of her job. I really don’t want to add to the Haterz rhetoric but there’s been an own goal by some posters here, who have crossed the line massively and do sound over invested and bitter. Googling her kids school? Looking up their business accounts? Complaining to her professional body? Bloody weird behaviour.

• @Softkitty2 Agree completely and have reported the posts containing massively inflammatory and potentially professional career ending slander.*

I agree also. There is no need for this type of speculation and comment. It just derails a very interesting, thought-provoking and robust discussion.

Why does this thread turn sour overnight? I am not the biggest fan of MOD but as a nurse, attacking her professionalism is a step too far. There is absolutely no need for it. I have a feeling that people are intentionally being like this, so this thread gets closed down...

Having read through this thread there seems to be only one name that keeps coming up!! There are hundreds like MOD! If you don't like what they post just unfollow and move on, you really can't tell whats goibg on in someones life by a few photos.