How you can influence your baby’s mental health and development  With Dr Amanda Gummer  amanda@goodplayguide  Building close relationships and bonding as a new parent reduces the likelihood of mental health difficulties throughout your child’s life. The newborn time is a critical period of social and emotional development and new research highlights many parents are unaware of the link between their baby’s good mental health and early childhood development. I am excited to be joined by this week’s guest, Dr Amanda Gummer who is a child development expert and is workin ..read more

Bonding with your baby With Annie Ramsay-Stagg Bonding with your new baby is an important part of your baby’s development and wellbeing as well as yours as a new mum but it doesn’t mean it always happens naturally or easily. The reassuring thing is there are ways you can help support it.  This week I am joined by Annie Ramsay-Stagg who is a Local Campaigns Officer for @nspcc_official. Annie supports new parents to build their baby’s brain right from birth through encouraging positive early attachments and she is joining me today to explain how we can support bonding ..read more

Bottle Refusal in Breastfed Babies With Bec Hodgson So you nail your breastfeeding and decide to introduce a bottle to your baby, either expressed breast or formula milk. Perhaps you are returning to work or required to be away from baby for a period of time. You’ve seen videos of babies happily sucking away on a bottle and expect the same from your little one. But they say no thank you to the bottle and you find yourself purchasing every bottle going in desperation. I am speaking from personal experience here, you are most definitely not alone, bottle refusal can feel both frustrating and cha ..read more

How I am preparing for Baby Number 2 with Midwife Pip My third trimester is here, and I have had so many questions about how I am preparing, how my pregnancy is going and how we are preparing our little boy to become a big brother. So here is my little update to you on how things are going and how we are navigating our journey to three becoming four.  Extra Stuff: Midwife Pips Guide to a Positive Birth: https://www.midwifepip.com/midwife-pip-books Check out Midwife Pip’s Courses - http://www.midwifepip.com/ Get in Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midwife_pip Facebook ..read more

Single Motherhood With Lydia Bright Sometimes parenting plans take a twist and single parent families account for 15% of families in the UK. Solo motherhood can bring its own set of unique joys and challenges and this week’s guest found herself navigating single parenthood unexpectedly. I am super excited to introduce Lydia Bright, perhaps best known for her reality TV career starting in The Only Way is Essex, Lydia is also single mum to her little girl Loretta, a well-loved TV personality, influencer, entrepreneur and most recently author to her new book Mummy and Me. Available Here: https ..read more

How your child’s brain develops and how to support them Professor Sam Wass The government recently found that 4 in 5 parents are unaware that their child’s brain is 90% grown by the age of five, shedding light on a critical gap in parents’ understanding of the impact they can have during these crucial early years. Whilst most of us recognise the importance of reading stories before bedtime or roleplaying real-life scenarios with toys, despite not always having the time to do so, a new campaign called Little Moments Together aims to shine a light on the smaller everyday moments that we often o ..read more

Chatting about our pregnancy’s so far Charlie Launder   As expectant mums we need solidarity, real talk and taboo busting. This episode is all about being real, honest and sharing experiences to support other mums to be on this incredible rollercoaster of a journey.  This week’s guest, Charlie Launder, founder of Bumps and Burpees is joining me to talk about our current pregnancies- the ups and downs, highs and lows, challenges and how we are finding our own experiences of pregnancy.  Extra Stuff: Midwife Pips Guide to a Positive Birth: https://www.midwifepip.com/midwife-pip-b ..read more

How exercise can help you prepare for birth and postpartum recovery Kat - Founder of Hatch Athletic Exercise in pregnancy may well be a powerful tool in supporting you to achieve a positive birth and a smoother recovery postpartum but often the thing holding women back from truly embracing it is a lack of knowledge around the topic, fear of causing harm to their body or baby and the sea of conflicting, non-expert information that exists pretty much everywhere.  This week’s guest shares my passion for making sure you are empowered to have a strong, healthy pregnancy where exercise can be e ..read more

Breathing for Pregnancy and Birth Carolyn Cowan A calm, in control and relaxed pregnancy and birth are top of all our goal lists and it turns out there is one simple, free and effective tool we all have within us to support us to achieve just that. I am super excited for this week’s guest to talk about the power of the breathe  and how tapping into this tool can help overcome the anxiety, overwhelm and worry that often creeps in during pregnancy and parenthood. Carolyn Cowan, is a psychotherapist and breathwork teacher who has recently published her book on this topic ‘Breathing fo ..read more

The best way to get pregnant with Dr Larisa Corda Planning a pregnancy or trying to conceive can come in so many shapes and sizes, for some it is a relatively smooth journey and for others there can be many twists and turns to navigate. However the path to pregnancy may look for you, exploring ways to optimise your chances of conceiving and to improve the health of your pregnancy and growing baby has huge benefits for all.  I am super excited for this week’s guest, leading obstetrician and gynaecologist seen on ITV’s This Morning as resident fertility expert Dr Larisa Corda to talk about ..read more