The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has apologised after referring to mothers as “postnatal people” in a set of recently-released ‘safer sleeping’ guidelines.

The guidance, published on Wednesday of last week, made no reference to women, instead referring to mothers as “postnatal people”.

RCM removed the guidance from its website on Thursday morning after it had received backlash on social media soon after it was published.

The apology tweeted by RCM read: “We would like to apologise that women are not mentioned in our recent safer sleeping guidance. This was a huge oversight on our part, especially as we are committed as an organisation to ensure that women are never erased from the narrative around pregnancy and birth.

“We have taken it down from our website while we revise and correct this omission.”

It’s not the first time a medical organisation has changed its terminology around biological sex. In September, the Lancet medical journal was accused of sexism after describing women as “bodies with vaginas” on its cover.