How to choose an antenatal course So this is really important. Getting the right birth preparation for you and your partner can make a HUGE difference. Both to your pregnancy and your labour and birth. This then in turn makes a huge difference to your postnatal experience and to parenthood too. Basically what you choose to do (or not do) now can affect you for the rest of your life. No I’m not being overdramatic - I see so many mothers in my Mum & Baby classes (and sadly in my birth trauma work) once they’ve had their babies who regret choosing the wrong course because it’s what their fri ..read more

what if we nurtured mothers? What a flipping great question! I was rewatching a really powerful TED talk earlier today. It’s by Diana Spaldin and titled “What if we nurtured moms” There’s some pretty powerful stuff in it. Definitely worth a watch, I’ll share the link at the end of the post. In it she states: 85% of mothers do not believe society takes good care of mothers. (Tbh I’m surprised it’s not a higher number ) We are asking mothers to nurture, when they do not feel nurtured themselves. And asks these questions... ~ when did we stop valuing mothers? ~ how is it to feel you are not i ..read more

Baby carrier and slings can, I’ll be honest, be a little bit of magic! Babies (especially newborn, but also older babies too) will often want to be in your arms a lot - and when I say a lot I mean it can be pretty much all of the time. For feeding, for napping, for most of their awake time. That beautiful moses basket you’d imagined them napping in whilst you read a book - sorry, think again! They are highly likely to spend more time on you than in a moses basket. I hear this all the time in my mum & baby classes. So investing in a sling can be a life saver - baby is close but you also ca ..read more

why making medical decisions are about much more than statistics, data and maths - so says a maths professor! I will admit to having a massive girl crush on professor Hannah Fry, she’s a pretty amazing woman. She’s a Mathematics professor at UCL, a broadcaster and an author. As well as being hugely clever she's articulate, truthful and funny. She's often on Radio 6 Music with Lauren Laverne (another girl crush!) with her ‘maths of life’ series. But the reason I’m wanting to share this information with you, is because of a recent piece I heard her talking about that was all about how maths shou ..read more

Waiting for your baby, and for labour to start, can seem like the longest wait of your life. With normal human gestation being anywhere from 37 to 42 completed weeks (according to the WHO - World Health Organisation), and with very few babies actually arriving on their EDD (around 4% ish) it can (understandably) be hard for your brain to cope with the uncertainty about such a monumental life event. Add to this all the comments, texts, calls and WhatsApp messages from friends and family asking ‘ has the baby arrived yet’ - and what should be a lovely time can turn quite stressful rather quickl ..read more

BMI in pregnancy comes up often in my classes & on my courses. It was mentioned in last nights pregnancy yoga class, so I thought I’d do a post about it here. Because there’s some stuff you should know about... Health professionals often talk to pregnant folk about BMI being a risk factor for birth. It’s becoming a real issue. For women with a higher BMI than average there can feel like a lot of pressure is put on them to make certain choices (and a lot of blame and shame too sadly) But a very recently published book has looked at the research and evidence around BMI in pregnancy and birt ..read more

The long school Summer holidays are about to hit, and that’s always something I find tricky to navigate as a working mother. It’s a juggle, a compromise, and especially when my kids were much smaller and needed so much attention (first few years of school) it was a super stressful time. It gets easier! But here’s A little technique that you might find hrlpful and supportive. As a self-employed person I am fortunate enough to have the flexibility to shift my hours and work days around, and for that I am really thankful. So much so that for the last couple of years I have decided to take off th ..read more

This is something that you may not know about - Vitamin K and newborn babies. It’s offered to all babies here in the UK and many places around the world. It’s a decision you’ll need to make soon after your baby is born - so a good idea to have done your research in pregnancy, so you can decide if vitamin K is right for your baby or not. Some here’s the basics: Vitamin K is offered to all newborn babies just after birth (it’s usually offered within the first hour - it’s one of the first decisions you’ll have to make, after delayed or optimal cord clamping). So why does it get offered? Well it ..read more

D of for delayed cord clamping When your baby is born, around a third of babys volume blood is still in the placenta and umbilical cord. But it will quickly make it's way to baby via the umbilical cord. Unless of course the cord is cut before the transfer is complete. So delaying the clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord is so important. These are some of the benefits of delayed cord clamping: ~ Your baby will get 30 percent more of their intended blood volume, from the placenta and umbilical cord (that can go up to 50% in premature babies). ~ increases the newborn baby's iron storage, wh ..read more

So if you’ve been hanging around here for a while you’ll know that what I love is truthful information that can inform and empower you, as well as busting myths and misconceptions about pregnancy, birth and motherhood. So lets talk about the taboo of poo. Once you become a parent you’ll have two main topics of conversation with other new parents - baby’s sleep and baby’s poo. Never has poo been such an everyday or opening topic of conversation! But when it comes to poo and birth it’s a rather more taboo subject for many. But shit happens. Literally. Women are often really worried about poo ..read more