aboutus
Midwives you can trust to give you and your baby expert care from decades of experience
High Quality Evidence Based Care
Decades of Knowledge and Experience
Supportive and Nurturing Guidance
Empowering and Confidence Building
Clinical Excellence with a Gentle
Touch
Who we are
We are midwives and mothers, driven by a shared passion to support new families through the transformative - and often challenging - postnatal period.
Shaped by both professional experience and personal insight, including navigating feeding challenges ourselves, we understand where care can fall short and how vital expert support can be.
With decades of combined experience, our team is dedicated to empowering families through high-quality, evidence-based postnatal and infant feeding care, ensuring a calm, supportive and seamless experience at every stage.
What our Clients say
"I'm so thankful for the existence of Carys and Michelle"
“They were amazing - reassuring, knowledgeable and caring”
“The girls were so professional, informative, friendly and just all round lovely putting me at ease”
“I couldn’t thank Michelle and Carys enough for everything they did”
“Carys and Michelle were so professional from the start to the end and the aftercare was exceptional”
Our Story
We’re on a mission to transform postnatal care and infant feeding support for today’s families. Zita Maria was founded in 2023 to address a critical gap in postnatal, tongue tie and infant feeding services - bringing together expert midwives, NIPE practitioners, IBCLC lactation consultants and tongue tie practitioners to deliver the level of care families deserve.
Shaped by decades of experience supporting families within the NHS and private practice, including The Portland in Hale, our approach is holistic, evidence-based and centred around the individual needs of each family.
As our team has grown, so too has our clinic network, allowing us to support more families across Liverpool, Wirral, Cheshire and the surrounding areas.
With an expanding multidisciplinary team and clinics in multiple locations, we remain committed to providing consistent, high-quality care while maintaining the personalised, bespoke approach that defines Zita Maria.
Carys Karkar
BA (Hons), RM, PGCert NMP, PGCert Tongue Tie Mgmt
Carys is a Midwife, NIPE practitioner, Tongue Tie Practitioner, Infant Feeding Specialist, Independent Prescriber and Co-Founder of Zita Maria Ltd, but most importantly to her, she is a Mother.
I’m Carys Karkar, a leading midwife and Tongue-tie and Infant Feeding specialist at Zita Maria, passionate about transforming maternity and new-born care for discerning families. My journey began as a breastfeeding volunteer, igniting my lifelong dedication to feeding support, before I spent a decade at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust - the UK’s largest single-site maternity hospital - where I trained and worked in maternal and newborn care. Currently, I work as a midwife specialist for antenatal care at The Birth Company at The Portland Hospital Outpatients department in Hale, Cheshire. As a mother who navigated my own feeding challenges, I’ve channelled that insight into mastering tongue tie division and postnatal support - areas often overlooked by the NHS. I’m a certified NIPE and Tongue Tie Practitioner, trained in Advanced Skills in Ankyloglossia at the University of Wolverhampton, and pursuing IBCLC certification to set a new standard in infant feeding care. My holistic approach, rooted in nutrition and evidence-based practice, ensures tailored support for every family. I founded Zita Maria to offer bespoke postnatal care - from tongue tie solutions to premium maternity nursing - with seamless follow-ups and a trusted network of specialists. Living in Wirral with my family, I’m driven to lead this field, ensuring exceptional support for families across Liverpool, Wirral and Cheshire.
Michelle Ryan
BSc (Hons), RM, PGCert Tongue Tie Mgmt
Michelle, Co-Founder of Zita Maria Ltd, is a dedicated midwife, NIPE practitioner, Tongue Tie Practitioner, Infant Feeding Expert, and Hypnobirthing Practitioner. But above all, Michelle is a loving mother of two incredible boys, embodying her passion for both healthcare and motherhood.
I’m Michelle Ryan, a leading midwife and infant feeding and tongue tie specialist at Zita Maria, devoted to transforming infant and maternal care for local families. With nearly two decades in midwifery since 2006, my passion ignited through supporting breastfeeding, shaped by my own journey as a mother. My sons, Theo and Zaine, both faced tongue tie challenges - Theo’s undiagnosed for 10 weeks, Zaine’s with a cleft palate - driving me to breastfeed them until age five despite the odds. This experience led me to train as a Frenulotomy Practitioner at Southampton General Hospital in 2014, where I launched a tongue tie service within a case-loading midwifery team. I’m now a certified specialist in assessing and treating tongue ties, with a focus on filling NHS gaps in infant feeding support. Currently pursuing IBCLC certification to deepen my expertise, I’m committed to setting a new benchmark in postnatal care through my holistic, evidence-based approach. At Zita Maria, I deliver bespoke antenatal and postnatal care - expert tongue tie solutions and tailored feeding support - with dedicated follow-ups. Living on the Wirral with my boys, I’m passionate about leading this field, offering exceptional support to families across Liverpool, Wirral and Cheshire.
Emma Harrison
BA (Hons), MSc, RM, IBCLC, PGCert Tongue Tie Management
Emma is a highly experienced Midwife, IBCLC Lactation Consultant, Tongue Tie Practitioner and The Infant Feeding Lead at the Countess of Chester Hospital, with a longstanding passion for supporting families with infant feeding.
Emma Harrison is an experienced midwife, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and tongue tie practitioner, with over 25 years’ experience supporting families across the North West of England. Emma qualified as a midwife in 1998 and has since worked across all areas of NHS midwifery practice. Her passion for infant feeding developed following the birth of her own children, where she recognised the profound impact that skilled, individualised support can have on feeding outcomes and family wellbeing. Since 2019, Emma has worked within specialist infant feeding services in the NHS. She is currently the Infant Feeding Lead and Tongue Tie Practitioner at the Countess of Chester Hospital, and went on to achieve IBCLC status in 2021, further strengthening her expertise in complex feeding challenges. At Zita Maria, Emma provides bespoke, family-centred care, offering comprehensive tongue tie assessment and division alongside tailored infant feeding support. Living in North Wales with her family, Emma is ideally placed to support families across Cheshire and Merseyside with compassionate, evidence-based care.
Midwives who truly understand
At Zita Maria, we have a deep understanding of both the challenges and the joys of early parenthood. As experienced midwives - and mothers ourselves - our personal and professional journeys shape the compassionate, individualised care we provide. This insight has driven our commitment to delivering bespoke, evidence-based services that support women and families through the fourth trimester and beyond.
Why Choose Us?
When you choose Zita Maria, you can rest assured that you are in capable hands. Our comprehensive approach covers all aspects of your care, providing you with peace of mind and removing any unnecessary worries. We are here to guide you, support you, and celebrate with you as you embark on this remarkable chapter of your life.
Contact Zita Maria today to start your journey towards a fulfilling and worry-free maternity experience.