Can we afford midwifery training with two children and limited childcare?

[AmiThyst]

Hi, I’m considering pursuing a career in midwifery as it’s something I feel very passionate about and I’d love to have a career doing something I genuinely care about.
I’m 24 and I have 2 children, one is turning 4 soon and will start school in September and the other is almost 18 months old. I’d need to complete an access to higher education course prior to being able to apply for any universities. I also live with my fiance who has a decent income (~£40k) and works Mon-Fri 8-5. I don’t have practically any family support, my family live 2.5hrs away and any close by relatives are unreliable but can maybe on occasion be able to help.
I want to know if I’d be able to realistically afford to be a student and also if I could manage childcare around uni and placements. I know it would be hard, but if it’s doable the outcome will be worth it.
If anyone has any experience of studying as a midwife (especially as a parent), any insights would be greatly appreciated :)
Thank you x

You need to be able to cover the children when you work nights and weekends. And shifts start very early.

I’m sure there will be midwives or midwifery students who can advise, but having done a PGCE many years ago with older children, it was incredibly hard and I had a supportive husband and parents (and no shifts). Could you do the Access course then apply for midwifery in a few years assuming there is a reasonable time limit on the access qualification?

Join some midwifery groups on Facebook. There is a national shortage of jobs at the moment and people qualified for several years are struggling to get jobs! I wouldn’t go for this career at the moment personally!

Secret community for midwives in the making is a good Facebook group to get an idea of the situation currently

I'm not a midwife but I work with midwives.

I think you may struggle without any family help. Placement hours can be long and universities/placement are not always very flexible.

It depends how flexible your fiancé's job can be, and how extensive wrap around care at school is. He'll probably have to do all the childcare runs whilst your on placement. The early starts are especially difficult to manage from experience.

That said it can definitely be done! I would do some research. Look at the University you would go to and ask some questions about their placement requirements.

There are no jobs at the moment, but these things are cyclical. There will be jobs again by the time you're looking at finishing.

As an aside do you have a real idea of the reality of the role? Have you spoken to real midwives? It's not like it's portrayed on tv.

I did it in my 30s with a 2yo and a 4yo. I had a supportive partner and my mum helped out occasionally. This was in 1994 and we got our 3 year timetable on day 1 almost. Not the shifts etc for placements but I knew when I was classroom based/what my placement was. Also all holidays. I could plan well ahead for potential childcare issues. I didn’t find it stressful however. I’m not sure it is the same these days.

The biggest worry isn’t if you can afford child care it’s would there be a job for you

During the interview process with the university., it is likely to be made clear that you need to be able to do nights/ weekends/ 12 hour shifts etc on placement. An 'early' or 12 hour shift will start at 7am in some work areas.
It's also worth bearing in mind that you have to do a minimum number of practice hours over the three years. to qualify for registration . There is very little room for absences.
You'll need rock solid child care/ support in place to balance your home life and midwifery training.

Agree with previous posters. many newly qualified midwives are struggling to find jobs and birth rates are dropping. I would leave it a few years.

Thank you all for your responses.

I do think it may be best to time starting university with my youngest starting reception. That way I don’t need to worry about nursery or other childcare as both children will be in school mon-fri and there is breakfast and afterschool club at the school my children will go to which my partner can do drop offs and pickups if needed, he can also care for the children on weekends.

I know it is a very intense course and that it requires a lot of placement hours but in my position, I either do this or I’m pretty much staying in insecure, low paying jobs and I don’t want that so I feel it’s something I need to do for the future of my household and also for me, I’ve had my life on hold since I was 20 when I had my first child.

I’m also wondering how to bring it up with my partner, it’s a difficult conversation I think…

for fear of repeating myself many many many hospitals it’s dead man’s shoes there are no jobs
people are blinded by headlines of staff shortages in the NHS most trusts have a recruitment band on and have for the foreseeable

@AmiThyst
i think it’s really commendable to be thinking of this to better your career prospects and to contribute to not just your family but to society too by doing something worthwhile.

It is worth noting tho that in trusts up and down the country, people are finishing their training, which has often put them in debt - and then there is little training at the end.

Some trusts do however offer nurse cadet training (and you can later specialise eg in midwifery!) and you are paid for this scheme which would be a good option.

I think If you have childcare options that is good - and essential to have a plan.

I wish you all the best.

Why are you worried about bringing it up with your partner? What do you think he will say?

I would say he needs to be 100% behind you for this to work. He will be completely responsible for doing school runs, bedtimes, nights etc etc on the days you’re on the ward.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/20/younger-midwives-nhs-england-burnout-maternity-staffing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Not a good time to start a nee career hoping to find a job in the NHS. This will last a few years more.

I’m worried about asking him to take so much on, especially because he’s been supporting us financially all these years and works extremely hard.

But i know he values hard work and work ethic and he wants the best for our family, so it’s kind of a relatively short, intense period that then leads to a better outcome for us all.

I know that currently there’s problems with newly qualified midwives struggling to get jobs, but for my area (North West), it doesn’t seem to be as bad as other areas.

Im lucky to have a few potential hospitals near me that I could apply to and I don’t mind a commute or not having a job lined up straight out of university, that’s just how it is these days no matter where you’re applying I suppose.

Also, it would realistically be 4-5 years from now that I’d graduate so the job market could be entirely different by then, given that there’s a lot being said in the UK about maternity services not being good enough, you’d assume that at some point there will have to be investment made into the UK’s maternity services.

Its so hard to plan so far ahead when there’s so many unknowns, but as I said, I don’t really have an alternative. I either follow this path or end up doing something meaningless to me and with no prospects.

In fairness, I do suspect that the current focus on maternity scandals may actually result in some investment for an expansion in midwife numbers. But you will need iron clad 24/7 childcare.

Your being incredibly naive about job availability to not see it as a major issue
even if there is the jobs which no doubt will be filled by the time you qualify
most midwives stay in the job for years so vacancies rarely come up

you might be better doing nurse training and you can do the conversion to midwife at a later date it would give you more options

again nursing vacancies are few and far between but there’s more opportunities outside the nhs for a nurse than a midwife

Hi OP,

I just wanted to comment on the no job situation which others have mentioned. I qualified as a nurse in 2010 and there were no jobs due to a national recruitment freeze. I did well on placements and managed to get bank work when i qualified. It took maybe a year to 18 months and things did change. There were plenty of jobs eventually, people leave, retire, get promoted etc and the NHS will always need a workforce.

Good luck!

The shifts are typically 12 hours long and can be day or night so unless you have an amazing childminder or a dp who will do all the drops it will be hard. Some hospitals do have crèches but that’s won’t help with the school aged child. I do know someone who trained from when her kids were 6&8 and it wasn’t easy but many years on she’s head of midwifery at her trust

Thank you for this! Things in the past like this are a good indicator that things will improve, the bigger question is when unfortunately xx

Yes it’ll definitely be hard, my husband is able to take care of the kids and school runs with the help of breakfast and after school clubs, it would be a lot but worth it for our situation :) xx