Stroud Gentle Sleep Support

Stroud Gentle Sleep Support Supporting families to navigate sleep without sleep training

20/01/2026

Book your spot at bookwhen.com/stroudmotherhood ❤️

20/01/2026

Head to bookwhen.com/stroudmotherhood to book your place ❤️

Ready to say goodbye to night feeds? Come join us online next week!
03/03/2025

Ready to say goodbye to night feeds? Come join us online next week!

A couple of spaces left for this small group - for parents of babies over 12 months old. Message me if you'd like to joi...
17/02/2025

A couple of spaces left for this small group - for parents of babies over 12 months old. Message me if you'd like to join us!

Imagine a transition into motherhood where you are seen, held, and heard in the full complexity of the experience. Where...
31/10/2024

Imagine a transition into motherhood where you are seen, held, and heard in the full complexity of the experience. Where you have a space to voice the thoughts that come into your head at 3am and you feel scared to say out loud.

Where you have space to explore and express the messy mixture of the dozens of emotions that you might go through in a single day.

Where someone will make you a hot cup of tea and hold your baby so you can sit in silence and do something just for yourself.

This is what we've spent the past 18 months creating at Stroud Motherhood Collective. We run a series of therapeutically-informed peer support groups, with creativity and wellbeing at their heart.

After a hugely successful first year, we're now fundraising to expand our range of groups so that more women can attend them free of charge, finding community and validation when they need it most.

We're crowdfunding to expand, and there's a chance of recieving a grant from Stroud District Council if we can evidence the community support for the project. So we need you! A pledge as little as £2 could make the world of difference. We'd love your support in growing our range of offerings - www.spacehive.com/stroud-motherhood-collective ❤️

What have I missed?? In a culture where shared parental leave is dire and rarely taken up, when the common model is for ...
25/09/2024

What have I missed??

In a culture where shared parental leave is dire and rarely taken up, when the common model is for one parent to stay home with a baby while another works (often elsewhere) for most of the day, it's no surprise that in two-parenr households one of us quickly becomes the "default parent".

This often leads to overwhelm, resentment and burnout for the default parent, and disempowerment, loss of confidence, and resentment for the non-default parent. It's rubbish.

Our society sets us up for this to happen. It's nobody's fault as individuals. But once it happens, and we notice it, we all have a responsibility to work to shift this dynamic if it isn't working for us.

Starting solids has been a reminder in our house of just how easy it is for me to slip into default parent mode. We've consciously tried to share more of these tasks with our second child - with greater and lesser success 😅

How has starting solids been for you, if you have another parent at home?


So excited to be offering a weaning circle as part of the gathering at Sladebank Woods, very soon! It's a circle for an...
05/06/2024

So excited to be offering a weaning circle as part of the gathering at Sladebank Woods, very soon!

It's a circle for anyone thinking about coming to the end of breastfeeding, or who has recently finished. A chance to reflect on your journey, to share and be heard by others at a similar point. To celebrate, to grieve. Whatever comes up around this huge transition is welcome.

Spaces are limited and offered for donation on a sliding scale. Get in touch to book a place ❤️

My first birth was wonderful and fairly quick (six hours start to finish), in the Mulberry room at Stroud Maternity. I h...
24/03/2024

My first birth was wonderful and fairly quick (six hours start to finish), in the Mulberry room at Stroud Maternity. I had such a good experience that I was keen to return for my second birth. I was primed for it to be even quicker so was ready to get to Stroud the second I felt anything starting.

As it was, I had ten days of prodromal labour (regular contractions for a couple of hours each evening that then faded and didn't progress). This was pretty torturous, we were on the edge of our seats every night...

But finally on 3rd January I was woken at 1am with what felt like period pains, and my waters having broken. We called my in laws to come and look after our son and prepared to get to the hospital. I spent about an hour at home, rocking on a birth ball but not experiencing the surges as particularly intense. This was quite different to my first birth, in which contractions had come on hard right from the start.

We got to the hospital and were delighted to be welcomed into the same room in which my son had been born. Just like with my son, I felt more comfortable standing up so we spent an hour or two standing and swaying, leaning on the counter to help when contractions came. The lovely midwife popped in and out but largely just gave us space, which is exactly what I needed.

As the contractions got more intense I wanted to get into the pool, which provided incredible relief. The contractions slowed at that point for quite a while, but eventually picked up again. As they became more intense I asked for gas and air, which I had found useful during my first labour.

The midwife was keen to be certain that I was in established labour before I started the gas and air, so asked if she could do a VE. I had a bad experience with this during my first birth so had been really keen to avoid one this time round, but in the moment it felt necessary in order to get the gas and air, so I agreed.

(More in the comments!)

There are a couple of spaces still available for our Gentle Sleep peer support circle at tomorrow afternoon!We meet in ...
09/10/2023

There are a couple of spaces still available for our Gentle Sleep peer support circle at tomorrow afternoon!

We meet in the conservatory from 1pm-2.30pm and it's an opportunity to ask questions about your little ones sleep, get support and advice, and meet other parents.

Booking link is in my stories - I'd love to see you there.

After a much longer than planned hiatus (thanks, hyperemisis!), we're finally back! Next week sees the Gentle Sleep peer...
07/09/2023

After a much longer than planned hiatus (thanks, hyperemisis!), we're finally back!

Next week sees the Gentle Sleep peer support group back up and running, now meeting at and free to attend thanks to funding from the Stroud Hospitals League of Friends.

This month's group is fully booked at the moment but you can join the waiting list by emailing me, or book online for next month.

Can't wait to see you there ❤️

I'll be holding my next weaning circle on Saturday 7th October. 10am-12pm, in person in Rodborough. If you are consideri...
09/08/2023

I'll be holding my next weaning circle on Saturday 7th October. 10am-12pm, in person in Rodborough.

If you are considering coming to the end of breastfeeding, or you're in the process, this space is for you.

It's a place to reflect on your journey, to mark and celebrate the end, perhapd to grieve the change. So many emotions can come up around this transition, and they're all welcome.

The circle will open and close with a brief grounding meditation, then we'll each have an opportunity to share about our journey, and connect with others at a similar stage.

I'd love to see you there - booking link up in my stories today or go to bookwhen.com/stroudmotherhood

Some big picture thoughts today. If it feels like you're drowning sometimes trying to do everything on your own; if the ...
03/08/2023

Some big picture thoughts today. If it feels like you're drowning sometimes trying to do everything on your own; if the intensity of hours and hours with a toddler or newborn is doing your head in... You're not alone. You're not doing it wrong. It's just really effing hard sometimes.

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Field Rd
Stroud
GL5 2JB

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