There aren't nearly as many male midwives as females ones, but they're definitely out there, as our very own MFM mums can report.

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And while some of you admit you wouldn't be totally up for it, loads of you who have experienced a male midwife were more than happy to have them around...

The case for

"I would actually prefer it," Lizzie C told us. "I had a male nurse that needed to examine me and he was a hell of a lot gentler than the midwife."

"A man who's wanted to go into the world of midwifery to me says something about their character - kinda like seeing a woman firefighter - impressive," says Hailey S.

And Louise G said: "I had a male midwife at birth and it didn't bother me in the slightest.

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"My little boy was 7 weeks premature so as long as he was ok there could have been a brass band marching through and I wouldn't have minded lol xx."

And Ann O totally agrees: "My son was delivered by a male midwife. It was his first delivery on his own.

"Must admit he looked about 15 lol. Saying that he was 100 times better than the female midwife I had the next time."

Marianne H recalls: "My first pregnancy the midwife delivering was an absolute horror, would've happily swapped her for a good male midwife any day."

The case against

We have to say most of our mums agreed that as long as they know what they were doing, they'd have no issue whatsoever with a male midwife.

Though there were some who had slight reservations.

"I'd never cope - my anxiety would go mental and I'd have a panic attack," says Clare B.

Extreme maybe - but we do get that having a man you don't know around when you're half-naked could be awkward for some of us.

"I know I shouldn't [mind] but I would ?," says Kitty D. "I was nervous enough a lady looking down there haha."

And Claire M agrees: "No I... would hate it. Prefer to have a female midwife."

What about partners?

While, on the whole, most of our mums reckoned that if a midwife's good, gender shouldn't really come into it, Chelsea D had this to say:

"Honestly don't know lol - I probably would be fine but I'm very self-conscious at the best of times. I'm not sure how my husband would be though."

Ohh - now that's a whole new debate in itself... ?

What do you think?

Would you be happy to have a male midwife? Tell us in the comments below or over on Facebook

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Authors

Tara BreathnachContent Editor and Social Media Producer

Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015

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