Iron supplementation should not be offered routinely to all pregnant women. It does not benefit the mother's or the baby's health and may have unpleasant maternal side effects.

The effectiveness and safety of oral treatments for vaginal candidiasis in pregnancy are uncertain and these treatments should not be offered.

Routine breast examination during antenatal care is not recommended for the promotion of postnatal breastfeeding.

Routine antenatal pelvic examination does not accurately assess gestational age, nor does it accurately predict preterm birth or cephalopelvic disproportion. It is not recommended.

Routine screening for cardiac anomalies using nuchal translucency is not recommended.

When routine ultrasound screening is performed to detect neural tube defects, alpha-fetoprotein testing is not required.

The routine anomaly scan (at 18 weeks 0 days to 20 weeks 6 days) should not be routinely used for Down's syndrome screening using soft markers.

The presence of an isolated soft marker, with the exception of increased nuchal fold, on the routine anomaly scan, should not be used to adjust the a priori risk for Down's syndrome.

Pregnant women should not be offered routine screening for bacterial vaginosis because the evidence suggests that the identification and treatment of asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis does not lower the risk of preterm birth and other adverse reproductive outcomes.

Chlamydia screening should not be offered as part of routine antenatal care.

Pregnant women should not be offered routine screening for hepatitis C virus because there is insufficient evidence to support its clinical and cost effectiveness.

Pregnant women should not be offered routine antenatal screening for group B streptococcus because evidence of its clinical and cost effectiveness remains uncertain.

Routine antenatal serological screening for toxoplasmosis should not be offered because the risks of screening may outweigh the potential benefits.

Although there is a great deal of material published on alternative screening methods for pre-eclampsia, none of these has satisfactory sensitivity and specificity, and therefore they are not recommended.

JM 23/6/16

Routine screening for preterm labour should not be offered.

Routine Doppler ultrasound should not be used in low-risk pregnancies.

Fetal presentation should be assessed by abdominal palpation at 36 weeks or later, when presentation is likely to influence the plans for the birth. Routine assessment of presentation by abdominal palpation should not be offered before 36 weeks because it is not always accurate and may be uncomfortable.

Routine formal fetal-movement counting should not be offered.

The evidence does not support the routine use of antenatal electronic fetal heart rate monitoring (cardiotocography) for fetal assessment in women with an uncomplicated pregnancy and therefore it should not be offered.

The evidence does not support the routine use of ultrasound scanning after 24 weeks of gestation and therefore it should not be offered.