This is a guest post by my lovely friend Izzy. I was honoured and grateful to be one of her doulas, alongside my wonderful friend Becky Talbot. This is long for a blog post, but if you are a doula, midwife or parent preparing for birth, I urge you to read it all. Izzy leaves nothing out, so her Continue Reading
“In Yer Basket!”, or, the cult of the baby-trainer
I don't think it ever seriously occurred to me that what I had just pushed out of my body wasn't a human being. I was definitely completely certain it wasn't a puppy (despite my strange pregnancy dreams) or a robot. After a bit of kip, a cuddle and a coo, I was quickly convinced that this thing in Continue Reading
Planning a Wedding
This is a guest blog post from my dear, imaginary friend Janet. She wrote me a letter recently with the happy news that she is expecting to get married in the spring. It is copied here verbatim. "Dear Maddie, It was so nice to hear all your news! I'm well too and I have some good news for you - Continue Reading
Breastfeeding Support-Doulas: Boundaries and Benefits
I've spent my working life thinking about boundaries in one capacity or another and have been through the pain of working out why it's important for me to understand where my role begins and ends as a doula, breastfeeding counsellor and doula course leader and believe me, sometimes it's difficult to Continue Reading
Getting Between the Sheets of the Bed-Sharing Debate
In the true spirit of this site, we'd like to make sure our readers have access to the facts about bed-sharing - especially in the light of press coverage about the SWISS study. A couple of facts: A cot death means a death in a cot - not in the parental bed. The correct term is SIDS - Sudden Infant Continue Reading