Birth & Beyond Glasgow

14/06/2025

♥️📚🥰

22/05/2025

It sounds so simple and yet may not seem obvious in the depths of parenting - especially sleep deprived new parents of new babies. 💜

*Parenting decisions*

I'm just posting this again as I've found myself saying it to parents several times this week! So I'm sure there's more people out there who need to read it.

☆ If it's working, keep doing it.

☆ If it's not working, stop doing it, try something else, and see what happens.

☆ If that makes it better, keep doing it.

☆ If it makes it worse, go back to what you were doing.

And I'm going to add an extra one:

♡ Reach out for support if you need it ♡

We're all winging it.

21/05/2025

Words of wisdom as always from sarawickham.com 💜

Over the years, I have criticised a number of research studies that have purported to show that birth is more dangerous than it really is.

I’m not saying that birth always goes to plan, because it doesn’t.

I’m not claiming that I’ve never needed to draw upon my own skills, as well as the emergency equipment and medicines that fill the boot of any community-based midwife’s car, because I have.

And I’ve been immensely grateful for them, and for my colleagues who work in high-tech settings.
There are times in which they are needed, and lifesaving.

And I’m certainly not saying that we should aim for physiological birth at any cost. That’s a crazy idea.

But we do live in an era of over-intervention.

And, sadly, that is perpetuated by what some call ‘bad science,’ and the use of the idea of risk to try to control women’s choices and actions.

In general, it is much easier to raise concerns about risk than to prove safety.

Because of this, the positioning of risk as the enemy (which we can then use tools and technologies to fight and beat), has become an effective means of controlling birthing women.

No study within the field of maternity care has ever shown, or will ever show, that a particular option can offer a guarantee of absolute safety, including hospital care with every intervention known to womankind.

This is because human life does not come with a guarantee and nothing will completely eradicate the possibility that something may go awry in any situation or context.

The concept of safety in this context is a chimera, as evidenced by the fact that, while women may be considered ‘low-risk’ or ‘high-risk’ in relation to pregnancy and birth, no-one ever gets placed into the category of ‘no-risk’.

If you’d like to explore this further, I have an entire website of articles and blog posts, and a series of books that help explain and unpack these issues.

You can find me online at https://www.sarawickham.com

20/05/2025

My lovely colleague Joy hosts this free Pregnancy Relaxation session online every week - it's on tonight, just visit www.birthprepwithjoy.com/relax to book 😊

It is hard work growing a human! Take some time out for yourself to connect with your baby and destress. My FREE weekly relaxation for pregnancy class lasts about an hour. Time to wind down and get some free birth prep. Register here: www.birthprepwithjoy.com/relax

19/05/2025

Join me for Baby Massage at Merry-Go-Round Glasgow - next block starts on Wednesday, 12.30-1.30pm. £30 for a 4-week series of sessions, in which you gradually build up a sequence of soothing strokes, songs, and rhymes to relax and entertain your baby. Followed by homemade cake and chat about all things baby.
www.birthandbeyondglasgow.com to book.

Baby Massage classes and breastfeeding support on the south side of Glasgow. Over the course of 4 weeks, learn a sequence of soothing strokes alongside fun songs and rhymes, to entertain, calm and bond with your baby. Twin discount available. As a twin parent myself I understand the challenges of th...

19/05/2025

Glasgow Sling Library hanging out at Merry-Go-Round Glasgow this Friday - a perfect combination! Pop along for the free sling workshop, a sling consultation or to chat about cloth nappies.

Do you have a baby box wrap but struggling to use it? Are you getting lost in the fabric?!

Book a spot at our Southside Sling Library this coming Friday at Merry Go Round Glasgow.
We have a baby box workshop, a sling library session for those wishing to try other carriers and a nappucino for cloth nappy troubleshooting!

Come along to meet others and chat all things, slings, nappies and parenting.

🤗Book your spot at:
https://glasgowslinglibrary.as.me

17/11/2024

Absolutely crucial message explained clearly by Sarah Ockwell-Smith. This sits alongside the reason that we ask permission from our babies for each step of our baby massage routine. Clear understanding of body autonomy and body parts to help them be more aware and more able to communicate any abuses in future. Of course that risk is small, and we hope it will never be needed, but confidence and ability to articulate can make a difference. 💜

What should you call your child's ge****ls?

The simplest, and most positive, answer is simply - their real names. That means:

For girls: V***a (the outside part) and Va**na (the inside tube).
For boys: P***s and Testicles (the inside balls) and Sc***um (the outside sac).

This idea makes many parents cringe with embarrassment and disgust. This reaction is the very reason why it is so very important to use the correct anatomical terminology with children (and when I say children, I mean babyhood and up, it's never too early!). The more adults use these terms around their children, the more likely children are to grow up without the cringe-factor that so many adults struggle with. There is nothing dirty, or inappropriate about the anatomical terminology.

Why else should you use the correct anatomical names? For girls in particular, other names can cause issues with body image and perception. For instance, terms such as 'front bottom', 'wee wee', 'bum bum' and similar, subconsciously imply that the v***a and va**na is somehow dirty and equates it with urine and poo, rather than sexual pleasure and conception/birth. This can absolutely impact the relationship a girl has with her body - and sexual organs - as she grows.

Finally, pet names - 'floof', 'f***y', 'minnie', 'noonie', 'mary', 'fairy', 'lulu', 'w***y', 'percy', 'bits' and so on, are ambiguous. This means if a child is sexually abused, they may struggle conveying what has happened accurately to an adult. For instance a girl saying "he touched my fairy" may be misconstrued as somebody touching her doll without permission. Using the correct anatomical names is the best way to keep children safe.

Yes, it can feel awkward using the correct names at first, but you soon get over the embarrassment - and actually, it could have a positive effect on you too!

By the way, are you starting to think about discussing puberty with your child? My book BETWEEN will help! Find out more here: https://amzn.to/3Cy2Nwk

14/11/2024

A useful explanation from Lucy Webber Feeding Support - IBCLC: wearables can be useful but for most people aren't robust enough to fully build a supply.

I'm not saying this is the case for absolutely everyone, but I think it's important to know that it really is for some.
If you've generally got low supply and are on a feeding plan that involves expressing to increase it, and wearable pump probably isn't going to be able to do the job.

I know they have their benefits, and add in a massive convenience factor. But I see too many parents who are working enormously hard and not seeing changes, and when they change their pump things start to massively improve.

It's also vital to get the correct fl**ge size, use breast massage before and hand expressing before pumping, and a hands on technique

**gesize

07/11/2024

So true! If something is sore, seek support - struggling on through with the idea that you'll 'toughen up' or 'get used to it' can lead to damage that didn't need to happen.

There's lots of breastfeeding support around Glasgow - at Merry-Go-Round Glasgow on Wednesday afternoons, and at groups run by Breastfeeding Network Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Glasgow Breastfeeding Buddies. Face to face observation of a feed by a skilled supporter can help identify adjustments that can help improve the comfortableness of feeding. 💜

07/07/2024

Wisdom from Kathryn Stagg IBCLC - lactation consultant
Read, share, normalise!

While usually I steer very much away from numbers for milk volumes, this basic set of sums can help make sense of *approximately* how much babies might take at each feed. Remember it's smaller for newborns gradually increasing up to 6wks.

MATHS TIME

Research shows
the average breastfed baby takes approx
750ml milk in 24 hours between 1-6 mths

Research shows
the average breastfed baby feeds 11 times in 24 hours (can be more than this of course)

750 ÷ 11 = 68.18ml per feed

Then remember many babies have both breasts per feed, so perhaps 40-50ml from the first
20-30 from the second

It's time to normalise small volume feeds more frequently. This is how human babies are supposed to feed.

Some babies may feed less frequently naturally, but may take more milk in one feed if mum has a larger storage capacity. Some may feed more frequently. Many love to cluster feed. 3-4 hourly feeds is not something to aim for. But babies often have one or two longer stretches of sleep in 24 hrs (make sure you are also asleep at these times!). But they will likely feed more frequently at other times of day.

Not all feeds are the same volume. They may want a drink, a meal or an all you can eat buffet!

And it's also time to normalise pumping volumes! 60ml/2oz is totally normal. And if you've breastfed first, it is likely to be less!

03/07/2024

Useful info from Dr Pam on why Feed Play Sleep may not be a helpful tool. When we try to break biological patterns it tends to make parenting harder rather than easier, and introduce stress responses in babies rather than the relaxation which is needed for going to sleep comfortably. There are always variations between babies, but if it doesn't feel like it's working for your baby it is because the method doesn't fit, NOT because you are 'doing it wrong' or your baby needs fixing...

13/05/2024

PAY AS YOU FEEL BABY MASSAGE!
I fluffed advertising the Baby Massage Moon Rooms May block starting tomorrow morning at The Moon Rooms. I'm committed to paying the room fee so I'm offering this as 'pay as you feel/can' - I'd rather have a group enjoy it than sit at home and take the loss.

If that means you attend for free, that's fine! If you want to pay something, that would be a bonus but it will be entirely confidential. Book at www.birthandbeyondglasgow.com (no payment required)

Please share this with anyone you know who has a baby age 6weeks - 6m and might be interested in learning baby massage, chatting with other mums and eating homemade cake!