A Bradford midwife is giving expectant parents around the world access to expert medical advice thanks to a website which receives more than a quarter of a million 'hits' a year.

Catharine Parker-Littler set up the midwivesonline.com site two years ago to provide information and research for midwives and neo-natal nurses to use.

But what started as a one page document for health professionals has now become a busy advice service after the website was inundated with pleas for help from new and expectant parents.

With 36,500 midwives employed in Britain to support the births of about 700,000 babies every year, parents are not always be able to access the services they need to allay their fears.

But the website's 'Ask a Midwife' e-mail service allows parents to ask questions at any time during day or night.

Midwivesonline.com is now a rapidly expanding internet company with offices in Little Germany, employing 12 people.

Catharine said: "We were actually very surprised when we had so many expectant and new parents contacting us as I had seen many internet sites offering advice to would-be parents.

"However, when we actually looked at the content and who was providing the information we realised that there was a real need to provide expert, reliable and unbiased advice from trusted midwives.

"The questions people ask vary from quite sensitive things like one man who wanted to know if he was the parent of his partner's child to a pregnant women who wanted to know if she could eat prawns."

The project was developed with the support of West Yorkshire Ventures, the body funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward to help pre-start businesses with the potential to turnover £1 million within three years.

Anne Salisbury, manager at West Yorkshire Ventures, said: "The Royal College of midwives has highlighted a severe shortfall in the number of midwives in the UK and has called for 10,000 more midwives to be recruited.

"As a result, midwivesonline.com fills a huge gap and will prove to be an invaluable source of supplementary information for the many expectant parents."

Catharine, who lives with her husband Christopher in Baildon, worked as a midwife for the NHS for 20 years, including a year at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Now midwivesonline.com has become a full-time job and as managing director she has plans to expand the business.

The site will soon provide specialist advice for expectant parents with diabetes and there are plans to set up a telephone advice line.

However Catharine is keen to stress that the website should not be used in an emergency and was supplementary to the "excellent service" the NHS midwives provide.