Midwives in York are female assistants who take care of women while they are pregnant, and help them give birth to their child. On birth of a child, they also take care of the baby and assist the mother. Mostly, this profession is taken up by females. Midwives also help in family planning and encourage women to deliver naturally. Midwives, in York, are trained to handle emergencies at or during child birth, like twin births, breech births, etc.. However, in case of severe complications, general practitioners are consulted. A midwife would normally be responsible for advising a pregnant woman at each stage of her delivery till child birth. She takes care of the infant when it is born, and advises the new mother on feeding methods and ways to take care of her new arrival. Midwives need to be veterans in their field, and sufficiently experienced to be able to provide scientifically correct information to the new mother. In olden days, the service provided by midwives was quite cheap; the poor who could not afford expensive treatment with regards child birth, would take assistance of these midwives.