Midwif This
A blog about motherhood, family, midwifery and moments of change.
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Secrets of the Golden Hour of Birth
Introducing the dyad To understand “The Golden Hour” we first must acknowledge that the mother and baby are a ‘dyad”, a unit of 2 separate, complete and yet totally connected units whose wellbeing is interlinked. A mother’s chest and abdomen are the absolutely ideal environments for a newborn to thrive. It is warm, familiar and… Read more
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To expecting mothers everywhere. 5 reasons to consider ignoring every baby sleep book on the market.
1. There is no magic solution to babies waking. Definitely not one that you can only access for $30 in your local book store. Trust me. if there was a magic solution parents everywhere would be shouting it from the roof tops. 2. Many parenting books make you feel like a failure. It is classic… Read more
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Breastfeeding during the first week – an overview
So, Breastfeeding is rarely like it seems in the hallmark cards.
Understanding what is “normal” can give you some great insight into the behaviour to expect from your your baby, and how that changes (so quickly!!) over the first week.
Each day is a new adventure when you are learning how to breastfeed and infant.
You might think you need an electric breast pump, breastfeeding pillow and heard about supplements for breast milk production among all the other baby stuff. But the best thing you can invest in is good breastfeeding education in your pregnancy for you and your partner and good postnatal support so you have the time to learn and fall in love with your baby.
Following is a very basic overview of what you might expect from a well baby born at term.
Of course, if you are looking for more information, I am always here.
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Shifra’s first bath (a family experience)
Shifra was approximately 2 weeks when she had her first bath. A few notes on the video below: 1. The bath is in the kitchen sink. clean, easy to fill and empty, and with a good height bench to work with 2. bath water is lovely and warm. warm enough for anyone to comfortably bathe… Read more
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What are the first three months with a newborn like?
Let’s talk about preparing for life in the postpartum period. In particular, I want to run through a really rough timeline about what you might expect in the first few months of your baby’s life. The baby that you have. Before we start saying what’s normal, it is really important that we have a good… Read more
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Top 3 tips for planning for life with a new baby!
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‘Mummy wars’ – I call bullshit
Do you breastfeed or bottle feed? Are you a SAHM or working mum? Do you co-sleep or cry it out?
This constant separation into polarising groups is total bullshit.
The idea that the hundreds and thousands of new mothers every year will easily fall into opposing sides on every single parenting decision is the most absurd claim that has made it into urban myth.
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10 ways to give birth like an anarchist.
Ask questions. About everything. Literally everything. “what are you doing? why are you doing that? What other options do I have? Are there any risks with doing that? What else can you do instead?” Ask questions about where you birth, when and with whom. Ask what the evidence is and if there is any contradicting it. Learn about levels of evidence and recommendations in pregnancy. Know your hospital’s policies on induction, monitoring, appointments, home visits, breastfeeding and bottle-feeding, support people, bed sharing, everything. Read every one. And learn the difference between policy and evidence.
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The imperfect mum and the art of wabi-sabi.
From what I understand (and I can’t make this clear enough – I am absolutely not an expert in Japanese culture or language) this process is aligned with the concept of Wabi Sabi- or perfect imperfections. Essentially treating breakage and repair as an important element of the object’s history and journey instead of something that should be disguised or worse- cause it to be discarded.
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The problem with recommendations
Probably one of the biggest decisions we make very early in our pregnancy is deciding where we will have our baby and who will look after us. To further complicate the matter, this decision may have the greatest impact on how our baby comes into the world and how we are prepared for and supported in our mothering (or fathering).
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Making difficult decisions
In other areas of health, we might have the opportunity or feel secure in asking for second opinions, researching other options or just saying no. When we are having a baby however, quite often our default position is to give our decision making and reasoning over to the “experts”. After all we don’t want to make the wrong choice… and what do we know?
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Boobs and elderberry
So my three youngest children (5, 5, and 18 months) were home today. Each with unique and uncomfortable illnesses. In no particular order, I had the privilege of managing gastro, chicken pox and a UTI. Actually, the order was from most likely to make me cry to the least and vomiting always wins that fun-time trifecta.
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If I read one more post about a mum breaking down I’ll cry.
I have definitely spent my share of hours being the miserable know-it-all sadly “helping” another mum by explaining that unfortunately the exhaustion she is experiencing is normal, and yes she is isolated and overwhelmed, however, her baby is healthy, growing well and acting exactly as a baby of that age should
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When your newborn is deeply asleep – A Haiku
That moment when your baby is finally deeply asleep. And you are suddenly panicked that they are sleeping too deeply.
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3 ways inducing your labour might not be what you expect (and what you can do about it).h
Thinking the day you are booked to come in for your induction is the day you will be handed a baby? Although it IS possible, it is unlikely that’s how things will go. Understanding what an induction actually involves can help make sense of this.
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