Nurtured by Nature Naturopathic & Birth Support, Australia

30/03/2026

Forced vaginal exam = battery and assault and negligence

There was a significant decision made in the Supreme Court of Victoria last week.

A woman had been forced to have a vaginal exam when presenting at hospital. The hospital midwife had withheld access to her continuity of care midwife, birth suite and pain relief until she complied.

The court found that consent cannot be obtained under coercion and found Bendigo Health liable for battery and assault and negligence. A likely precedent in this space. The health service was ordered to pay $275K + costs.

Far too often, strong-arm tactics are used to get women to comply to vaginal exams, including refusing admission to birth suite, to water immersion, or to pain relief. Many women, advocates, lawyers and staff have been saying for a long time that this is not okay; no does in fact mean no, and a yes under coercion /= consent. The court agrees.

Let's address the unfounded rhetoric we have already heard from factions of the maternity space
- women just need to be more educated in the antenatal space. [errrh, no. Yuck. Victim blamey. Just don't digitally pe*****te someone without cosent?!]
- drs need to be more involved in conversations in the antenatal period [errr, for what purpose? No means no, whether it is to a midwife or dr. Women don't need any additional pressure applied to them before they even get to hospital].

I think all staff and services should be on notice. If thousands of women's stories to multiple maternity inquiries across the country hasn't shifted the dial, perhaps it will be the litigation payouts that will.

Thank you to the brave woman that persued this. It was just as much about her own justice as it was for every other woman that has been subjected to forced procedures during maternity "care".

13/03/2026

Take the hat off.

The first hour after birth isn’t just sentimental.

It’s hormonal. It’s biological, and it’s powerful.

Right after birth a mother’s body is flooded with oxytocin, the hormone that helps:

💎the uterus contract and slow bleeding
💎the placenta separate and be born
💎the mother and baby bond
💎the baby begin breastfeeding

And guess what helps drive that hormonal cascade?

👉🏾Touch. Warmth. Skin-to-skin. And smell.

When a baby is placed directly on their mother’s chest, mothers instinctively touch, kiss, and smell their baby’s head.

That newborn scent isn’t random.

It’s a powerful sensory signal that stimulates oxytocin and activates bonding behaviors in the brain.

Now here’s the part most people don’t question.

The hat that gets immediately placed on the baby’s head interrupting all the signaling.

Hospital hats were originally introduced to prevent babies from losing heat through their heads.

But research on immediate postpartum care shows that skin-to-skin itself regulates a baby’s temperature extremely well.

In fact, a 2023 study found no measurable difference in hypothermia rates between newborns wearing hats and those without hats during the immediate postpartum period.

Because when babies are skin-to-skin, something incredible happens.

The mother’s chest actually adjusts temperature in response to the baby, warming or cooling to keep them stable. Researchers call this thermal synchrony.

So if skin-to-skin already regulates temperature…

Why are we still covering the baby’s head during the most hormonally sensitive hour of life?

Covering the head may reduce the very sensory cues that drive the oxytocin feedback loop:

🔁 smelling the baby
🔁 kissing the baby’s head
🔁 full skin-to-skin sensory contact

In physiologic birth settings, like homebirths and out of hospital birth centers, we often have a different approach:

⭐️ Baby naked on the mother’s chest.
⭐️ No hat during the golden hour.
⭐️ A warm blanket over baby’s back.
⭐️ Everyone stepping back while mother and baby find each other.

Because birth physiology is delicate.

It responds to touch, scent, warmth, and connection.

Sometimes routines become so normal that we stop asking whether they actually help.

And sometimes the most powerful intervention is the simplest one.

Skin-to-skin, access to baby’s head and scent while the mother and baby learning each other.

Hats are interrupting this very important process for healthy term babies.

17/01/2026

Yes. The system is very broken.

After 20 hours of labour, Giuditta’s baby’s heart rate dropped. What followed was shock that would stay with her for years. Link below.

07/01/2026

High-quality systematic review finds no value to "admission strip" CTG.... "Routine admission CTG in low-risk term pregnancies demonstrated no improvement in maternal or neonatal outcomes... These findings support current recommendations favouring IA [Intermittent auscultation] over routine admission CTG in low-risk pregnancies..." Full text at https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1471-0528.70047 Or as Henci Goer says "Just say no to routine CTG"... https://hencigoer.com/just-say-no-to-routine-continuous-fetal-monitoring/

16/12/2025

08/10/2025

I love these tales so much, and all the people who play their part in them 🥰💃🏻✨

12/09/2025

Edit: WAIT - some of you are making some sense… 10 Luna months = 280 days = up-to 42 week pregnancy. BUT 42 weeks minus 2-3 weeks between Last period and ovulation = 39 weeks of actual pregnancy 4.3weeks per month x 9 = 39 weeks… we are pregnant for 10 Luna months… 39 actual weeks of pregnancy BUT if estimated birth dates are counted from last period to 42 weeks it’s more like 10 calendar months… wait… ok, we are pregnant from 9-10 months depending on how you maths it and your definition of pregnant. What a morning 😆

Sometimes I read stuff I don’t want to. This is that week. This is your reminder that pregnancy is closer to TEN months than 9 months and we don’t deliver our baby we BIRTH them. 42 weeks is a normal term pregnancy
Any book that doesn’t recognise these fundamental basics. Get in the bin. months than 9 months and we don’t deliver our baby we BIRTH them.
Any book that doesn’t recognise these fundamental basics. Get in the bin.

22/08/2025

The best man.

Honoring Dr. Michel Odent (1930–2025)

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Michel Odent, a visionary who transformed how the world understands birth and breastfeeding.

✨ His gentle wisdom reminded us that mothers’ instincts matter, that birth can be respected, and that breastfeeding is part of a lifelong connection of love.

For decades, he worked closely with La Leche League, speaking at LLL gatherings and advising our LLLI Professional Advisory Board. He always affirmed the gentle continuum from birth to early breastfeeding.

Our hearts are with his family and loved ones. We are deeply grateful for their kindness in remembering La Leche League at this time, a gesture that beautifully reflects the values Dr. Odent dedicated his life to.



Photo: Michel Odent – portrait, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

21/08/2025

Such a wonderful man… one of the very best advocates for women and keeping birthing sacred 💛

We are saddened to hear news of the passing of Michel Odent, whose vision and writing reshaped the way we understand human birth.

Michel Odent reminded us that birth is not a medical procedure to be controlled, but a primal rythm to be respected. He advocated for home-like maternity units, warm water births, protecting the birthing woman's privacy and honouring her instincts, undisturbed contact between mother and newborn; he was among the first to discuss the importance of the microbiome, and question many of the practices that had (and have) become normalised in overmedicalised maternity systems globally.

Michel Odent's legacy lives on in every dimmed, quiet birthing room, and in every midwife his words and work inspired to join our profession.

Thank you, Michel, for your passion, vision and committment to women and newborns.

Photo: Xavier Caré / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA

28/07/2025

🫶

27/05/2025

Sunny side up!!

👶🏽 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 👶🏽

OP(occiput posterior) or more commonly known as sunny-side up baby, is a position where the baby is facing the mothers / birthers abdomen instead of facing their spine. The back of the baby’s head, which is the hardest part, rests on the birthers lower back. This position should NOT automatically warrant a cesarean.

MANY BABIES ARE BORN JUST FINE VAGINALLY IN THIS POSITION BUT CAN CAUSE THE FOLLOWING:
⭕️longer pregnancy
⭕️premature rupture of membranes
⭕️slowing of labor which can lead to use of Pitocin
⭕️back of baby’s head is applying pressure to birthers lower back/spine and causes more pain
⭕️pushing baby out can be harder and longer
⭕️vacuum/forcep assistance
⭕️vaginal tearing
⭕️cesarean

WHAT CAN YOU DO DURING PREGNANCY TO POSSIBLY AVOID AN OP BABY?
❇️SIT UP STRAIGHT! THE BACK OF THE BABYS HEAD IS THE HEAVIEST, SLOUCHING ALLOWS GRAVITY TO PULL THE BACK OF HIS HEAD TOWARDS YOUR SPINE!
❇️Spend time everyday sitting on a birthball
❇️Get into a hands and knees position twice a day for 10 minutes
❇️When sitting make sure your knees are always lower than your hips and lean forward instead of leaning back
❇️If you sit a lot for work, take regular breaks to get up and move around. ditch the office chair for a birth ball
❇️See a chiropractor

WHAT CAN YOU DO DURING BIRTH:
✅Keep active during labor
✅Utilize positions that open your pelvis and allows your baby room to rotate
✅PATIENCE! Lots of babies will rotate out of this position during labor with just using patience
✅Use of epidural can often lead to an OP baby(from less mobility), but sometimes if baby is ALREADY in an OP position for an extended amount of time, an epidural can help relax the pelvic floor and allow baby to turn.
✅HIRE A DOULA! They can help you with exercises to turn your baby naturally(like lunge positions, knees to chest, forward leaning, etc etc) or they might have skills with a rebozo to turn your baby!

Some babies are born OP with ease and some require help to navigate ❤️

-Love,
Flor Cruz
Badassmotherbirther

24/05/2025

Superstar.

Six months after giving birth, Stephanie Case returns to trail running with a shock victory in the Snowdonia ultramarathon, breastfeeding daughter Pepper along the mountainous 100km route.