De Cleaver Midwife

18/03/2022

In the hospital they usually tell moms to try to breastfeed every 2-3 hours. Wake baby to nurse every 2-3 hours. That way you can make sure to nourish baby and bring in a good milk supply.

Unfortunately this isn’t exactly how it works🙄 this visual was shared in a post from a friend that I shared a couple years ago and it’s incredibly accurate.

It’s basic math that they use in the hospital to give you the “ideal” feeding schedule. This “ideal schedule” equals about 8-12 nursing sessions in 24 hours which means baby would only have to nurse every 2-3 hours.

This is their way of saying that baby needs to eat often, but this isn’t exactly how it works for mom and baby in real life. Which can cause a mom to really struggle when her baby wants to nurse more often than every 2-3 hours! Nothing like setting new moms up to fail🤦‍♀️

Because they push this so heavily, I’ve noticed that parents seem to think breastfeeding is going to be super simple and perfectly spaced out feedings like the cereal picture. It also makes it look as though all feedings should be the same size so they should be nursing for the same amount of time each time. Which also is NOT accurate.

THIS IS NOT THE REALITY. In reality, baby will have big/long feeds sometimes. Or little/short feeds. Or feeding sessions while they are still mostly asleep. Or feeding sessions that aren’t so great. Or anything in between! They are not guaranteed to sleep better just because their feedings are all spaced out perfectly and done for the same length of time.

Instead of watching the clock and timing sessions, let baby lead! Watch for feeding cues from your little one and go from there😊

I also wanted to say that I love the blueberries portion of this visual. It shows more of a reality for how nursing sessions go. Some are bigger. Some are smaller. Sometimes there’s a longer amount of time in between. And in counting the berries, there are STILL the correct number of nursing sessions for the day.

Amazing, right?! Our bodies and our babies know what they are doing. Let them lead💙💚

Words by: Ariel Kaye
Image by: .dietitian

17/03/2022

Why your newborn needs to feed so often

12/02/2022

Good discussion points

what conversations do you wish you had?

02/02/2022

There’s no such thing as false labour. 🤭

Yep, you might find one evening things start niggling, there’s some twinges, you loose your mucous plug, have some tightenings, maybe it even feels like it’s really ramping up! You’re excited! You bounce around on your ball all evening, your partner cancels their plans, you run a bath, watch a funny film, do all the ‘early labour prep’ you’ve been planning! Then you both head to bed- to get some sleep & hopefully wake up ready to call the midwife! The following morning, you wake up.. and nothing! 😫 That evening the cycle repeats.. the following morning NOTHING! Now you’re feeling disheartened, tired, impatient, stressed 😬 it FEELS like ‘false labour’, someone might have even told you it’s ‘false labour’.. but it isn’t ❤️

Allow me to reframe things for you. Every single moment of pregnancy- your baby and your body are preparing for birth. Every single minute that passes is one minute closer to meeting your baby. In the last few days of pregnancy there’s so much going on in there that we can’t see from the outside that needs to happen before your baby is born; just because it’s ‘stopping & starting’ or moving slowly, doesn’t mean your body isn’t doing exactly what it’s supposed to! These early surges might be encouraging your baby to rotate into the right position; they might be helping your baby tuck their chin down & align themselves for birth; they might be moving your baby further down into your pelvis; they might be causing your cervix to soften, draw forwards, shorten, or begin to open.. you’re doing everything right!

So if this is you in a few months time, a few days or maybe even as your read this- you’re already one minute closer to meeting your baby 💪🏻 this is one minute you’ll never do again and SOMETHING in there has changed! Things ARE always moving forward! And it WILL reach a point where the starting doesn’t stop, until you have your gorgeous baby in your arms!

So for now- 📺 Distraction 🧖🏿‍♀️Relaxation 🌬Breathing 🙏🏻 Patience 👶🏼 and trust ❤️ You’re so close. If this was you, what are your best tips for staying positive during this stage?

📸

19/01/2022

Love

Megan | Hypnobirthing & Birth]
・・・
There’s a moment after birth,
placenta born,
baby fed.

First wee due.

Bleeding between your legs, more than you imagined.
Pads shoved between your thighs, you holding the front, a helpful hand grappling with the back.
And you shuffle.
Cautiously.
Gently.
Tentatively.
Off to the toilet.
Drip, drip behind you as you go.
A little trail of red, lest you forget your way back.

First wee imminent.

Giving birth is so unique. But it’s so the same. These moments.

These are the moments that tie us.

Mother to mother.

So extraordinary. But so ordinary.

The first wee walk.

Words Megan | Hypnobirthing & Birth]
Photo

05/01/2022

Looking for a more comfortable way of feeding....try this out

19/12/2021

There are often so many misconceptions when it comes to attachment parenting. This is why our platforms are so important to us, challenging the narrative and normalizing parenting. 🗻
What does attachment parenting mean to you?

Coffee & Cosleeping

🌸💕🌸 For support in your gentle parenting journey, pick up a copy of our gorgeous spring issue - with beautiful FREE pregnancy journal - from supermarkets throughout NZ and newsagents throughout Australia! To find your local stockist, or to subscribe, visit https://linktr.ee/TheNaturalParentMagazine 🌸💕🌸

16/12/2021

👀

🌸💕🌸 For support in your gentle parenting journey, pick up a copy of our gorgeous spring issue - with beautiful FREE pregnancy journal - from supermarkets throughout NZ and newsagents throughout Australia! To find your local stockist, or to subscribe, visit https://linktr.ee/TheNaturalParentMagazine 🌸💕🌸

29/11/2021

This is a lovely visual of why holding your baby helps them adjust to life on the outside. The message it contains is not limited to the fourth trimester either. The same still applies afterwards too, babies love to be held and thrive with high levels of contact.
Carrying Matters - Dr Rosie Knowles

Carrying Matters - Dr Rosie Knowles

🌸💕🌸 For support in your gentle parenting journey, pick up a copy of our gorgeous spring issue - with beautiful FREE pregnancy journal - from supermarkets throughout NZ and newsagents throughout Australia! To find your local stockist, or to subscribe, visit https://linktr.ee/TheNaturalParentMagazine 🌸💕🌸

07/11/2021

"Me aro koe ki te hā o Hine-ahu-one"
✨
"Pay heed to the dignity of women"

25/10/2021

Aotearoa’s Home Birth Awareness Week begins, quite suitably, on Labour Day each year. During this week, families and communities around the nation celebrate the choice that all women have, to birth at home in New Zealand. For Home Birth Aotearoa, the national collective of New Zealand’s home birth support groups, it brings a chance to highlight the positive effects of home birth and home birth support groups on our communities.
Contrary to the widely accepted notion that birth is risky, Home Birth Aotearoa’s stance is that the perceived risk, promoted through a diminished birth culture, does not accurately reflect the lived reality of the majority of women in Aotearoa – healthy, well women, carrying healthy, well babies, who can be born at home. In New Zealand we are fortunate that we can choose to birth where we feel the most comfortable and safe, where our hearts tell us our babies should be born. The research may support what our hearts tell us but we don’t need that when we feel empowered to believe in our own knowing, when we know that we have our midwives behind us always supporting us in our power to be mothers.
As women we honour our midwives not as proscribed modern-day health professionals but as our time-honoured partners who journey with us, sharing important secrets of life and death and a belief in our power and courage as birthing women. When we are free to choose our place of birth and free to choose only the people we are truly connected to, to participate in our unique birthing experience, we are expressing our humanity and a way of being as authentic and safe as life gets.
Whilst this year our Regional Home Birth Support Groups throughout Aotearoa are unable to celebrate Home Birth Awareness Week with events including documentary screenings, family picnics and coffee morning gatherings, like many years past. Home Birth Aotearoa believe that every person who supports home birth within their community is creating positive change to our birth culture here in New Zealand and that is why this week will be a big week here for us thanks to the power of social media.
Whatever you are doing this week to share the home birth love – enjoy and remember that for many the journey to home birth begins with a conversation, so simply telling your story may be the catalyst for someone to explore the home birth option.
Please talk and interact with us, share with us- your stories and photos and beloved memories as we do our best to connect with you all here. We love sharing the homebirth love.

Original article by Sharon Knightbridge, changed a little to reflect our current climate.
Https://homebirth.org.nz

Photo from- Bobbie-Jane