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As always none of this information should be taken as advice. Always consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns about your health.  1. What is your perineum? Our bodies and how they work are not sufficiently covered in ‘A level Biology’, let alone sex education at schools, by the time many people become pregnant they may have never really looked at their own vulva. The vulva is the name for the outside area of the genitals, it is often confused with the vagina. The vagina is the tube of muscle inside; it goes from the opening in between the tiny, almost invisible hole where pee comes out (urethra) and the bum hole (anus), all the way up to the cervix -the opening to your womb (aka medically as your uterus.) Your perineum is the area between your vaginal opening and your anus.
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3/3/2025 0 Comments Normal Newborn Development Do I need to worry about how my baby is developing? Childhood development is a complex topic, some people study and research it at University. But as a parent, you don't really need to know all the details. All you need to know is that if you focus on caring for your baby they will focus on developing in their own time.
Your baby will start off very focused on learning their own body and all the very basic feelings of what it means to be alive. One saying we don’t mind is “all babies do is eat, sleep and poo” because that might sound a bit dull but it’s really quite an achievement to get the hang of all these natural functions regulating themselves. Once again we’re coming back to recommending the benefits of skin-to-skin. One thing you can do to support your baby’s early development is to spend time skin to skin. Being snuggled inside your top, under a blanket or in the bath next to your skin (or your partner’s skin or other supportive family members if you feel comfortable with that) will help your baby regulate their temperature, digest their food, produce wet and dirty nappies, sleep peacefully and generally begin to get the idea that being out in the world is not too bad. As they grow babies will naturally develop ways of interacting with the world around them. They will learn to recognise the people in their lives and interact socially with them and eventually learn to talk. They will learn to reach out, use their hands to interact and eventually learn to write. They will learn to move around and eventually walk, run and jump. All of these things will happen at their own pace and in good time. The best thing you can do to support your baby’s development is to enjoy your time with them, chat to them as you go about your day, interact with them as you change nappies and encourage your partner and any siblings to do the same. Children will grow and thrive when they have that solid basis they can rely on. 3/3/2025 0 Comments Normal Newborn Care What is "basic baby care"? There are lots of ‘basic baby care’ tasks you might be doing for the very first time when you have a new baby. It’s okay to feel you don’t know anything and normal to learn on the job. There is no such thing as a silly question. If you don’t have a reliable group of friends or a relative you can trust to support you, you're more than welcome to come along to any of our meet-ups and know there will be someone there who has had the same questions as you, whatever is concerning or confusing you. Our Facebook group is also a great place for these questions especially as there’s often someone around at any time of day.
3/2/2025 0 Comments Normal Newborn Crying What’s a normal amount of crying for my baby to do? This is almost an impossible question to answer because all babies are so different. The important thing to remember is crying is your baby communicating with you, not to complain or upset you but just to let you know something.
It’s completely normal to not know what it is your baby is trying to say, the idea that we will automatically instinctively know how to care for our baby is a myth. Learning to parent is very often about going through the list of possible reasons your baby might be crying, hungry, tired, need nappy changing, need to burp, need a cuddle, need to pass wind, need to poop, have a small piece of hair wrapped around one toe, etc, etc. As with everything, remember it’s normal and fine to need and ask for help. Keep a list of people who will support in a positive way. People who you can trust when they say “yes that’s normal” or “maybe get a medical opinion at this point” and who can say either of those things and not make it sound like they think you should already know. 9/30/2024 0 Comments When Birth Didn't Go to PlanOur Online Meet-Up for January 2023 focused on the topic 'When Birth Doesn't Go to Plan.' This follow up blog post provides a glimpse into topics we might coverin our online sessions & some information signposting on birth trauma and birth resolution and support available. Plans can go differently on the day if you stilll feel good that's okay. But if something happens in your pregnancy, labour, birth or postnatal experience that leaves you feeling sad, angry, shaken, anxious or any number of other feelings you're not alone. When we plan for birth there are lots of things we can control and be prepared for but there are also things that are out of our control, that we must deal with the best we can at the time. It might be something dramatic like a crash caesarean or a baby who needs medical support when they are born. Perhaps, it might be something that seems very small from other people's point of view but actually has a huge impact on us; such as the way someone speaks to you or how they make you feel about yourself at a vulnerable point in your life. Often when we talk about these things we will find people dismiss our feelings, generally with the well-intentioned specific but really unhelpful observations that your baby is here, or that a certain outcome was meant to be and there's always a next time.... and that you're fine now you should get over it. What would be a better response? We can't go back and change anything that happened in the past but we can listen and validate how you felt then, and how you feel now. We can provide some information and support for moving on from this point. We can offer respect and support for the fact that getting over it is not that simple and sometimes further action and support are needed before you can even think about feeling differently in the future.   It's normal to worry if you have enough milk for your baby. Establishing and maintaining a good supply of milk is one of the top worries that many new parents have about breast/chestfeeding. Our society and the prevalence of formula advertising have made us think that this is a very common problem but it's really quite unusual to not be able to make enough milk with the right supportive atmosphere. What is common is to doubt yourself and feel worried and that supportive atmosphere is often a vital component to gaining confidence. Poor feeding support can actually cause a milk supply problem so finding support from people with a specific lactation qualification is very important.
8/17/2024 0 Comments Confident Birthing ChoicesWhen we first wrote this blog post it was the start of the corona virus pandemic. That was a time when lots of things changed very fast and we often didn't know from week to week what would be on offer in terms of healthcare for labour and birth. Since then we've been told that everything has returned to normal. But in our experience, we've not returned to the way things used to be, there's still a lot more uncertainty and last-minute changes than used to be usual. From what we can work out this is mainly due to staff availability in maternity and ambulance services. It's generally not an issue for anyone planning to birth in the labour ward. However, those planning a home birth or to birth in the stand-alone birthing centres are still being warned there is always the possibility they will be asked to come into the labour ward (or sometimes to the alongside birthing centre) on the day. For anyone having an induction of labour, this can also affect how long they will need to wait between being advised to have their labour induced and when they are invited into the hospital to start that process as well as how long that process may take.
So thinking about what is inside and outside your control when you're making a birth plan remains a good way of planning. 8/17/2024 0 Comments Normal Newborn SleepAre you sleeping like a baby?  There are several phrases we would like to see banned and one is “sleeping like a baby”. The idea that babies should be seen and not heard, that they should have a feed and then sleep peacefully in a cot for a significant period of time has no basis in actual baby physiology and has so much potential to make new parents feel like they are failing. The real-life situation is that everything in the world is new to a baby and all they have ever known is to be perfectly happy in the warm darkness listening to your heartbeat. So if your baby wants to only sleep on you and never be put down, congratulations they are normal. If you have one of those unicorn babies who does like to sleep also congratulations please enjoy your rest. First find some calm
What is induction of labour? Induction of labour is any process that exerts external influence to try and start the body's process of labour and birth. This may include anything you try to do yourself such as having sex or eating curry and anything you have done by a holistic practitioner such as a chiropractor, acupuncturist or reflexologist to help your body do what you want it to do.
It also includes the 'stretch and sweep' or 'membrane sweep' procedure which involves your care provider inserting their (gloved) finger into your cervix and separating the membranes holding your waters away from the cervix with a circular sweeping motion. This is not always recognised as part of the induction of labour process but it is an intervention with the object of starting labour off. As with any intervention your care provider needs to make sure you're making an informed decision on whether or not to accept that intervention. So, they will be very happy to help you go through the benefits, risks and alternatives with you and to let you know what will happen if you do nothing. You can ask as many questions as you need and think through what your instincts are at the time before making your decision. This way of thinking through your choices is very useful and you will notice we frequently reference it. We remember it with the acronym BRAIN (benefits, risks, alternatives, instincts, nothing). 1. In (almost) all health situations you alone have the right to make decisions about your own health care. The only exceptions are
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AuthorPosts by team members who are doulas, antenatal teachers, placenta specialists and birth nerds among other things. Archives
March 2025
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