Midwives’ lack of knowledge and essential skills regarding nutrition is not limited to Australia or the United Kingdom. This was confirmed in a study by Szwajcer and colleagues
21
who
undertook an in-depth exploration of verbal and written communication of midwifery practices in Holland. They reported that
nutrition communication was provided relatively late in pregnancy, when pregnant women were more interested in other things
related to pregnancy than in receiving nutrition education.
Although pregnant women in the study were educated about
healthy nutrition in general terms and were given nutrition
brochures by their midwives, the midwives did not reinforce the
information in the brochures and therefore pregnant women rarely
looked at them at home