TLC Maternal Wellness

19/02/2026

⭐️About me⭐️

Hi I’m Tasha Louise Cox
I trained to be a Doula in early 2022. I have since furthered my training in Birth Keeping in 2023. I feel honoured that I get to do what I love. I get to offer a service I feel so passionate about.

⭐️A bit of history⭐️

I studied Law at university and trained to be a Therapeutic Counsellor. This led me to work in a secondary school in pastoral support then within a homeless hostel as a life coach. I have also volunteered for Cruse bereavement, fearfree and most recently volunteered within my local maternity ward and for Devon Maternity and neonatal Voices. Advocating and implanting change within maternity services.

⭐️What lead me to become a Birthkeeper⭐️

Having struggled to conceive for 4 years after fertility testing and failed treatments, we finally welcomed our first daughter in 2015. Over the next 6 years we went on to have another 5 children, 3 girls and then I successfully gender swayed for 3 boys. I was blessed to have 6 good pregnancies and 6 natural births. 4 in hospital, 2 at home, 3 in water. Although I consider them to have been good births there is still things I would change. Over this period of 10 years I have built up a vast knowledge and experience of fertility, pregnancy, birth and how to care for a newborn. I have supported 100s of women online. I have completed specialist training so I can offer these services to you and your family.

*2025 update* I freebirthed baby number 7. Check out my blog to read all about it:

https://www.tlcdoulacare.com/post/my-journey-as-an-awakened-birth-worker-through-the-maternity-system

⭐️How can I support you?⭐️

I offer tailored support at every stage of your journey, including emotional support and real facts and figures so you can feel empowered to make informed decisions about your own care. I provide advocacy when you are faced with challenges from your care provider. You will receive continuous support from somebody who knows your preferences and your choices for you and your baby. Which is so important when navigating the maternity system. I can also offer support if you are choosing to step away from the maternity system. I offer you and your family unconditional guidance throughout. Holding space so you feel empowered at every stage.

I look forward to meeting you and your family, and supporting you through one of the most magical times. Birth is truly amazing!!

Please join our Devon based Mum support group if you are local.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/378313078219066/?ref=share_group_link

Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/tlc.doulacare?igsh=MW92eGh1N2x4c25mNw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

And do check out my website, all services can be offered in person or remotely.

www.tlcdoulacare.com

17/02/2026

co sleeping and breastfeeding 👌🏻

05/02/2026

Do NOT cut my baby's cord! Leave their life source INTACT until it is done doing its job. Even if that means many, many minutes.

"NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation Program) guidelines and recent evidence-based practices strongly recommend delaying umbilical cord clamping, even for newborns requiring resuscitation, to allow for continued oxygenation and placental transfusion. This "intact cord resuscitation" (also known as bedside resuscitation) is feasible, safe, and improves Apgar scores by allowing breathing initiation (initial steps, stimulation, PPV) while the baby remains attached to the placenta."

05/02/2026

Over the past few months, many women and birth workers have asked me whether it’s possible to request Anti-D (RhoGAM) made from unvaccinated blood.

I’ve written a blog post to answer this.

You can read it at https://www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/can-anti-d-rhogam-be-made-from-unvaccinated-blood/

21/01/2026

The last in person doula training from WPCTS!!
The most amazing birth worker training, support and community! Please dont miss out on this! Book your place now. 🥰

In-Person Doula Training

08/12/2025

There is NO incubator, resuscitaire, warmed cot, doctor or midwife that can do what a mother's chest can......

Early skin-to-skin contact:
✨Helps babies to learn to latch and suckle at the breast.
✨Increases prolactin levels and milk production.
✨Increases the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding at and after discharge, and the length of the breastfeeding relationship.
✨Stabilises babies physiologically
✨Keeps baby’s warm through thermoregulation and “thermal synchrony”. A mothers chest temperature is around 3 degrees higher than their partners and the temperature l rises and falls depending on baby’s temperature 🤯
✨Kick starts their immune system

Skin to skin beyond the newborn period is a valuable parenting tool throughout infancy and into toddlerhood:
✨Enhances parents confidence, responsiveness and connectedness
✨Reduces the risk of post partum depression
✨Decreases anxiety and increases confidence in dads and non-birth partners
✨Calms babies and toddlers
✨Essential for babies optimal brain development and growth, laying down neural pathways

For premature infants in SCBU or NICU skin-to-skin can be life saving. Also known as "Kangaroo Care", this practice of prolonged skin to skin reduces the risk of death, infection, and low body temperature, while also improving weight gain and breastfeeding rates.

Mothers are quite simply ✨M A G I C✨

Lactation Nurse

www.thelactationnurse.co.uk

07/12/2025

I’ve never seen a formula feeding mama proudly share her choice and get hateful comments.
Usually, she’s met with support.

“She did what’s best for her family.”
“Formula is life saving.”
“So proud of you for choosing you”

Mamas show up in the comments with love, empathy, and their own stories.
And that’s beautiful.
It doesn’t bother me at all.

I don’t care if you formula feed.
I do care if you didn’t get the support or inspiration to continue if that’s what you wanted.

But what makes me mad is this👇🏻

When a breastfeeding mama shares her pride
Her journey.
Her joy.

The comment section shifts.

Suddenly it’s
“You’re shaming other mamas.”
“Stop acting like you’re better.”
“Not everyone can breastfeed, you know.”

Why is one kind of pride celebrated…
And the other questioned?

Breastfeeding pride isn’t formula shame. 🤷🏼‍♀️
Such a weird double standard. Have you noticed this too??

20/11/2025

Research tells us that babies who co-sleep in infancy, especially in those early years get around 13,000 extra hours of touch.

Thirteen thousand.

Because when you keep your baby close, day and night, they’re getting 10 to 12 extra hours a day of your skin, your warmth, your presence.

That’s not spoiling.
That’s wiring.

Touch is brain food.
It releases oxytocin, serotonin…
It lowers cortisol.

It teaches your baby’s body how to feel safe.
How to come back to calm.

We actually have studies showing
co -sleeping babies have lower stress reactivity meaning their little bodies bounce back from stress faster.

That’s not dependence.
That’s coregulation.
That’s safety being built from the inside out.

So the next time you’re contact napping,
bed sharing, doing whatever gets you both some rest and someone tells you you’re creating bad habits, remember this ~

You’re not creating a clingy baby.
You’re creating a resilient one 🖤

The Breastmilk Queen - Amy McGlade 🥰

19/11/2025

This!

10/11/2025

I pull the blanket halfway up,
pretending it’s for the baby
but really, it’s my shield.
My heart beats louder than her little suck-suck-swallow rhythm.
Because somehow, somehow,
feeding my baby became a statement.

I can feel the stares
before I even sit down.
Eyes like spotlights.
Hands clutching lattes.
Whispers that weigh more than the diaper bag.
And me?
Just trying to give my baby what she needs
my milk, my warmth, my calm.

I whisper to myself,
“Don’t shake.”
But I do.
Because all my life I was told the other way was normal.
Shiny bottles, neat measurements, sterile plastic perfection.
And now here I am
skin to skin,
heart to heart,
doing the most ancient thing a mother can do
and feeling… wrong?

How did we get here?
How did something sacred turn scandalous?
How did the world forget
that every mammal feeds its young this way
and not one of them feels shame about it?

I am milk and fear and courage mixed together.
I am centuries of mothers before me,
whose only cradle was their chest,
whose only peace was that small sigh when baby was full.
I am them
but I’m also me
shaking in a coffee shop,
wondering if someone will film me,
or worse…
judge me.

But my baby’s eyes meet mine.
And in that look, I hear her say,
“It’s okay, Mama. You’re home.”
Right here.
In this body.
In this moment.
Doing exactly what we were made to do.

So I breathe.
And let the world watch if it wants to.
Because this this is not shame.
This is love made visible.
This is biology, bravery, and bond.
This is me feeding life.
And for the first time,
I’m not sorry.