Am I too old to train to be a midwife?

[Illbebythesea]

At 32. But… with 3 young kids and one still 2 years away from school age. Could I do it… then. At 34? I’ve always wanted to. SAHM for 6 years and feel like this would be my last chance to have a career instead of a job.

You're not too old but it is such a tough job. The ratio of midwives to patients now is unsafe and the NHS is crumbling. Wouldn't recommend anyone to enter the NHS now.

I had to read a little farther in this post before I commented. In the US you would have a bachelors level nursing degree, a BSN before you went to a master's level. In the US a midwife CNM is the title- the degree is MSN. That is six years of education.

One of my friends mum's began training in her late 40's. She's fully trained and qualified now and she loves it

You won’t have any difficulty getting on a course, numbers applying for midwifery are way down and all the London universities had spaces in clearing this year for the first time. When I applied there were 5 applicants for every place. Now as a mature student they’ll honestly bite your hand off.

I really don’t think that’s correct. I’m actually a midwifery lecturer and we have well over 10x applicants per place, nearer 15 for every place to be honest. Very similar story for every university I know. Some places went into clearing because of the A level blood bath this year, not because of a fall in applicants. We nearly went into clearing which is unheard of but we had over 400 applications for under 30 places. We lost quite a few people on offer day (more than normal) but luckily we always over offer. Any clearing spaces would have been competitively fought for, people still need to be interviewed even in clearing and there were only a handful of spaces. Many people apply for 5 choices and don’t get a place.

I started my midwifery training at age 36. At the time our children were 5 and 8. I had a really understanding husband who took up a lot of the slack with childcare.

I had to take an access course as my A levels were considered too old to be classified as appropriate study.

The course is really intense. You will be expected to complete a certain amount of placement hours. I think it’s unlikely that part time hours will be considered as you have to achieve placement competencies to progress through the course.

It’s a very different course than many other uni courses. Students are in university for 37.5 hours per week, or on placement. You will also be expected to work weekends and night shifts.

You also pay tuition fees.

I hope this helps. I wish you luck

We have so many students signing up for health courses as adults - it's lovely to see women coming through having had their babies and wanting to support others

Access courses are fairly intense themselves. Definitely look into it - ours ask for GCSE Maths and English (and preferably Biology)

Go for it ! A friend recently qualified at 40 and has 4 primary school aged children.

You have plenty of time! I did a different HCP course at 43 so was 46 when I qualified, with three kids. Access to health course first instead of A levels which took one year at a local adult college. Nearly 20 years later i am still working in it, all be it part time as it is quite physically demanding. I'm very glad I did it and proud to work in the NHS.

I started my training at 38 and I’m due to qualify next year, at the grand old age of 41. Around half of my cohort are mature students, including several that are older than me. I have 2 children and my husband also works away a lot, so it can be a juggling act.

I did an access course as my previous study was too long ago. In hindsight, I’m glad I did it as it got me back into the swing of things, in terms that of academic writing etc. There were 10 people in my access group, again all older students with children.

Happy to answer any questions.

Definitely not too old.
Go for it 💐

Not at all. Go for it.
One of the student midwives that looked after me was late thirties with 2 kids.

Do it!!!

Definitely not too old. My sister is a student midwife, coming to the end of her training and she is 39.
She had first child at 16 and then had 3 more after that, so spent her 20s and 30s raising her children. She then did the access course which I think was 2 years?
She went down the nursing route first which is kinder, so was an adult nurse for a year or 2 then went onto midwifery.

She managed all this with 4 children and is also a single mum, so if she can do it anyone can. Go for it!

It will depend on practicalities around childcare etc, as well as your personal energy levels and drive. I personally would not be able to do it for those reasons. So it will depend on your personal circumstances rather than your age. I think you have asked the wrong question, basing it on your age.

Hi @Illbebythesea all of the above and more. It is a very demanding course as you are studying at a very high academic level and working 12 hr shifts alongside.
The shifts at my unit are long days/nights 12.5 hrs with a one hour break if you're lucky, though students always get their breaks.
The shifts are days/nights of which you will be rostered onto and you will be allocated a mentor to follow on their shifts. This is the hard bit with childcare. You have to have a considerate partner/family to accommodate all of this for three years.
It is an emotionally draining course at times. You will witness events never seen before and at times it can be hard to process what you see. The university has processes in place to help with this and you can also speak to your fellow students and mentor. You need to decompress quite often.
It can be a thankless job sometimes as expectations are very high and we try our very best to provide a great service whilst thin on the ground. The payoff is when you know you have made that difference to someone, it might just be listening to them, advising them, helping with breastfeeding, giving them a hug to let them know you understand snd are there gor them,encouraging them to keep going in second stage and the elation on their face when you hand them their baby after telling you a hundred times I can't do this anymore, when you know they can.
It's so many things as they say they may not remember everything you said but they remember how you made them feel.

Good luck we need more of us so apply you are most definitely not too old I was 30 when I did my training I was a nurse prior to this and did the conversion course.

@VeloVixen Maybe it’s different from place to place, but my friend is a midwifery lecturer and she told me that this is the situation in London at least

Am I to old to train as a midwife

Do it! When I went to uni there were women in their 40s with many kids studying! Good luck 🤞🏼