Mama Bear Hypnotherapy

10/08/2025

✨️Isn’t hypnotherapy just for quitting smoking and losing weight?✨️

So often, I hear "I never would have thought hypnotherapy could help me with that" and "Don't you just hypnotise people to stop smoking? Hypnotherapy is great for changing habits, but it can do so much more than that!

Under hypnosis, we are able to access your subconscious mind, which is where your beliefs are stored. In this way, we can improve self-esteem, anxiety, low mood, overwhelm, mum rage, trauma, pain and other physical symptoms.

When in a hypnotic state, your brain produces theta brainwaves (a frequency associated with deep relaxation, creativity and problem solving). This is why hypnotherapy is an excellent treatment for sleep issues, stress and anxiety.

07/08/2025

✨️Breastfeeding aversion✨️
..causes negative sensations and emotions - such as disgust, anger and intrusive thoughts - while feeding your little one. Feeding aversion happens most commonly if you become pregnant while breastfeeding, or when feeding an older toddler. However, it can happen at any point in a breastfeeding journey.

06/08/2025

This has got me thinking about my experience breastfeeding my eldest child. I was lucky to have a very successful and uneventful breastfeeding journey, but I struggled with my mental health at this time because breastfeeding seemed to be so deeply intertwined with sleep for us.

I remember reading that by four months of age, I should be able to put my baby down 'drowsy but awake' for sleep. Four months came and went, but 'drowsy but awake' remained elusive. She fell asleep while feeding every time and could continue to feed whilst asleep for hours sometimes.

In fact, from four months of age, her sleep just seemed to get worse. I took her to be weighed at about eight months old. The staff member asked how sleep was going, and I told her how my daughter woke anything up to 8 times a night. She asked how I put her to bed in the evening, so I told her she breastfed to sleep. She replied, "That's why." I'm still horrified that, rather than supporting and praising a mother who's doing so well with breastfeeding, she responded by blaming her for something that actually buologically normal.

The fact that my baby breastfed for comfort and in order to fall asleep made me feel that I was failing. It had a huge impact on my self-esteem, and coupled with the sleep deprivation, I was really quite low for the first year of my daughter's life.

If I could go back and give that version of me some advice, I'd tell her to ignore other people's outdated beliefs about baby sleep. Research safe bedsharing and do that. And I'd tell her what an amazing job she was doing.

05/08/2025

✨️Post-breastfeeding depression✨️

Another way that breastfeeding can impact your mental health...

Ending a breastfeeding journey - even if you're ready - can cause you to feel depressed or low. This is due to the loss of closeness when feeding your child, and also the hormones that contribute to feelings of calm, love, and contentment (prolactin and oxytocin), decrease as you stop breastfeeding.

This won't always be the case; I was more than ready to stop feeding both of my children, and stopping didn't negatively impact my wellbeing at all.

03/08/2025

✨️BREASTFEEDING TRAUMA✨️

A breastfeeding journey that is uncomfortable or painful, or ends before you feel ready can lead to feelings of guilt and low self-esteem. Just like a difficult birth, a difficult breastfeeding journey can lead to trauma symptoms, and can be treated in the same way as any other perinatal trauma.

01/08/2025

🤱🏾Friday 1st to Thursday 7th August is 👩‍🍼

This week I'll be posting about the impact that breastfeeding - including difficulties with breastfeeding - can have on a mother's mental health. This can be a difficult topic for some; protect your peace.

26/07/2025

25/07/2025

✨️New blog post on my website✨️

You cannot manifest a certain type of birth, and it can be harmful for expectant parents to believe they can.

Link in bio

21/07/2025

✨️Surviving instead of thriving as a new parent✨️

Or to put it another way, stuck in survival mode after having a baby...

New motherhood puts us into a state of constant high alert and hyperarousal so that we are better able to keep our children safe. This is made worse in modern society when we tend not to have a village supporting us and keeping US safe.

Survival mode for new mums can mean we experience:

❗️Feeling on edge
❗️Feeling ‘tired but wired’, and have difficulty sleeping
❗️Overwhelm when stressors increase
❗️Feeling as though it’s not actually safe to relax and come out of survival mode

Practising relaxation after baby is born will help regulate your nervous system, leading to...

😴Improved sleep
🤱🏾Feeling more present with your baby
🫀Healthier immune system
🧘🏾‍♀️More time in ‘rest and digest’ state, so you are better able to heal emotionally and physically from pregnancy and birth

18/07/2025

✨️A birth partner's story today✨️

17/07/2025

✨️A C Section birth story today✨️

This has been written by a previous client of mine. She came to me because of her birth trauma - not because of the C Section itself, but because of the ECV she had to try and turn her breach baby.

16/07/2025

✨️A lovely home birth story✨️

I thought I’d share the story of how my second baby came into the world. This time I’d chosen a home birth — something I’d dreamed of for years but hadn’t been able to have with our first, after being transferred to hospital.

Our midwife, Laura, arrived at 9:30, calm and smiling, while my husband got things ready. I was listening to my hypnobirthing tracks and bouncing on the birthing ball. Our toddler was still asleep upstairs!

The birth pool was ready. I got into the warm water, each surge growing stronger and closer together. My husband comforted me by combing my hair or rubbing my back.

The pushing stage was very quick this time! I had thought I might breathe baby down, but the urge to push was so strong. Laura checked and told me I was fully dilated, then after a few focused pushes, there he was. I was able to lift him out of the water and straight onto my chest. He let out a small cry, then nestled in.

The placenta didn’t come straight away, and Laura said that I’d probably need to be transferred in order to deliver it in hospital. I so badly didn’t want to leave home, so I went to the loo and delivered it on the toilet!

I finally feel like I had the peaceful birth experience I wanted and I know that I’m so lucky. It was peaceful. Powerful. Home.