This year I've officially been doulaing for 16 years. And just like my real 16th year, it was full of love, adventure, awkwardness and a looking forward with excitement to what the future brings. There has been joy and heartbreak, beginnings and endings, and most importantly, this year has been Continue Reading
Building Bridges: Questions Midwives Ask About Doulas
Over the years I have been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to talk to groups of midwives about the doula role on a number of occasions. Sometimes they are student midwives and sometimes experienced, qualified midwives. The last couple of years I have had the pleasure of talking to Continue Reading
Saying Thank You To Midwives: Do you not believe me, or do you not want to?
Today's post is a guest submission written by Ruth Pay, birth and postnatal doula in Kent and South London. Thank you so much for your words, Ruth - your thoughts on gratitude and how it is accepted are so interesting and I'm sure many of us will be able to identify with Continue Reading
A Handful of Gemstones: Doulas Celebrate Wonderful Midwives and Doctors
I recently wrote a post about some of the things that are said to parents to cajole, manipulate or threaten them into accepting interventions. This is a widespread problem but the last thing I would want is for my readers to think that I have an unrelentingly negative view and experience of the way Continue Reading
Breastfeeding Support? What’s THAT?
What does support mean? When it comes to breastfeeding your baby, the dictionary definition may, or may not be too helpful: Support /səˈpɔːt/ verb 1. bear all or part of the weight of; hold up. 2. give assistance to, especially financially. noun 1. a thing that bears the weight of Continue Reading
My Doula Year: banging the drum for justice
It's been quite a year. Not just for me, but for the wider birth world. This year heralded the beginnings of the implementation of the Better Births report. Continuity of Carer is really on the horizon - for those not in the know, that means the prospect of all women being able to get to know a Continue Reading
Hunting for the Truth: Birth in the Age of Fake News
This week there has some been some very random, and very mysterious news headlines in the media. Without warning, the media began reporting that the Royal College of Midwives was no longer going to be promoting 'normal birth'. None of the offending journalists seemed bothered by the fact that this Continue Reading
NMC Stop Ignoring Us: We actually give a toss where and with whom we give birth!
Once I was with a woman in labour. She was labouring at home. It took quite a while for this particular labour to reach boiling point. We were lucky enough to see 6 midwives in that time. All smiling, patient, understanding of her birthwishes and really, really wanting her to get what she wanted. Continue Reading
Midwives in Dunkirk Refugee Camp refuse to Follow International Best Practice
There is a French translation of this article below. This article edited 11/3/17 to add - we are not accusing the midwves of GSF of not supporting breastfeeding or believing that breastmilk is the safest manner to feed babies. We are, however, concerned that mothers who are using formula are not Continue Reading
Trapped in a Post-Fact Nightmare: infant feeding in the Dunkirk Refugee Camp
I used to be incredibly naive. I was brought up to believe that our leaders, even if we didn't agree with their particular brand of political philosophy, generally had our best interests at heart. Us, the people, were their top priority. Within that mindset came the belief that rules, laws and Continue Reading