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Birth in 2073: Malina’s Selkie And The Little Flat Cake

1st February 2023 By doulamaddie 1 Comment

Placenta

Malina felt the hot, wet child between her breasts wriggle and lift its head away from her sternum. Looking down, she meets her baby's gaze for the first time. With eyes as huge and dark as the depths of the sea, curls of wet, black hair stuck down in seaweed strands and ears as delicate and Continue Reading

Use Your Loaf: The Curse of the Baby Hat

26th July 2022 By doulamaddie 9 Comments

Baby hat

It's deeply ingrained, this habit of putting hats on newborns. Search online for images of newborns and almost all of them are togged up in a woolly hat, for all the world like they are about to go outside for a snowball fight. So why do we do it? And why do so many midwives and doctors insist that Continue Reading

Being Loved in Abobo: What Africa has to Teach us About Supporting Mothers

4th February 2020 By doulamaddie 1 Comment

Becky abobo 3

I am honoured to host this article by my friend and colleague Becky Young. Becky is a doula and breastfeeding counsellor who recently travelled to the Ivory Coast. Read on for her reflections on parenting in this wonderful country and how it throws our way of life in Europe into stark relief.  Continue Reading

Parents or Judges, Juries and Jailers?

23rd June 2019 By doulamaddie 2 Comments

My daughter Libby, who taught me so much about parenting

Would you order your life partner to stop swearing? Or manhandle them onto the naughty step? How about sending your girlfriend to her bedroom? Would you consider it appropriate if your husband sent you to bed or dictated what you wore?   The chances are, if one adult acted towards another Continue Reading

When We Let the Ad Men Decide the Health Of Our Children…

6th June 2019 By doulamaddie Leave a Comment

what parents recieve via the healthy start scheme

Cow & Gate, one of the UK's biggest baby and toddler brands, has shifted its entire consumer PR work to Frank PR and launched a major campaign promoting toddler nutrition. So said the press release back in 2016 on PR Week And so the PR machine cranked into action; millions spent on Continue Reading

Breastfeeding Support? What’s THAT?

26th February 2019 By doulamaddie 2 Comments

Feeding cues

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

6 Visions of Breastfeeding Support for Cinderella

25th February 2019 By doulamaddie 3 Comments

Fairy godmother

As brand new breastfeeding mothers, we can sometimes feel like Cinderella, sitting lonely in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun, feeling like we have been tasked with the impossible. But just like Cinderella, you are not alone. Even without her mother to care for her, Cinders had others Continue Reading

Breastfeeding: How Society Makes a Difference

4th April 2018 By doulamaddie 2 Comments

Rosie4

This is a guest post from my lovely friend and doula trainee, Rosie Spampinato. I have encouraged her to write this post to illustrate the power that society has on our breastfeeding journeys. We do not nurse in a vacuum, but are prey to all the influences, good and bad, that society can throw at Continue Reading

My Doula Year: banging the drum for justice

31st December 2017 By doulamaddie 5 Comments

Chinese grandmas

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

Babies, Bottles and Feeling Bad..Or…Bog Off Guilt!

8th July 2016 By doulamaddie Leave a Comment

Cross cradle hold

GUILT...5 little letters that pack a punch way above the space they take up on the page. 5 little letters that are a heavy cross to bear when you are a parent. For some reason, that burden seems to fall even more heavily on mothers. Every tiny thing we do comes loaded with worry, doubt and Continue Reading

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