For Modern Mothers Podcast

Want to know more about how acupuncture can help support you in pregnancy, when trying to conceive and in womens health in general - then this podcast with expert Anne Gledhill-Myhill is for you!

Unsolicited advice. It comes thick and fast once you’ve had a baby (and even in pregnancy too). Everyone has an opinion, and they REALLY want to tell you about it!

So I've recorded this podcast with some ways to deal with all that advice you never asked for - that can leave you feeling overwhelmed, full of doubt, or somehow ‘not good enough’.

Another bonus meditation episode for you. A guided meditation to help you to pause and connect you to nature and the season. To pause and feel into your connect to what is all around you. That beauty, that wonder, that magnificence that is always there if we take the time to see it and to feel part of it.

My guest is Debs Neiger an independent midwife and author (amongst many pother talents). We chat about lots of things, with a lot of focus on postnatal care and how it could and should be so much better than women and birthing people currently get within the system and why that is so important and also about:

~ what is an independent midwife?

~ how you support team is really important

~ authoring a book "AIMS Guide to Giving Birth to Your Baby"

~ Matrescence

~ Postnatal depletion, postnatal expectations vs reality

~ Postnatal care within the NHS and how this differs considerably in it's scope and support with a private midwife

Another little bonus episode for you. A guided relaxation to help you get to (or get back to) sleep. Because I know so many pregnant women and mothers struggle with sleep, so this is a guided relaxation (called a yoga nidra - which actually translates as 'yogic sleep') that can help.

Poet and Psychotherapist Flora Croft joins to to chat all things creativity, identity and twin motherhood too.

Her groundbreaking book of poetry I Am A Spider Mother is a unique creative exploration of twin motherhood, identity as a mother, transformation, vulnerability, pregnancy, infertility and IVF and also the relationship between grandmother, mother and children too. Basically the poems and themes are so relevant to all mothers.

We chat about writing as a vessel for creativity, poetry and how the act of getting words down on paper is so cathartic as well as creative. How identity change and transition as a mother, and how it is not always easy, fun or enjoyable.

The idea of striving to be a 'perfect' mother is something that so many women struggle with. This podcast is going to dispel that myth, that BS - that we need to be 'perfect' mothers, when actually being a 'good enough' mother is better for both us and our babies! I also share some ideas and techniques that can help support you if you find letting go of perfectionism hard and want to try to be more at ease with your imperfections (note: they are golden). And there's a lovely guided meditation to end this podcast too.

A really brilliant chat with Bethan of HotTea Mama, we covered SO much! From natural ways to support your body as a woman through the power of plants - from fertility, through pregnancy, to menopause.

We also talk about LOADS more stuff. Like making big life and career changes, & setting up a brand new business with small children and on maternity leave. Flexible working for mothers , the the work / family juggle. Setting up a female focussed and female founded business, and a bit of feminism too.

I'm back after a bit of a gap - more on that in the Podcast. This episode is all about Baby's brain development, and as a total neuroscience geek this is utterly fascinating to me. Some super interesting stuff about how your babys brain develops so much AFTER they are born. And why loving relationships are essential to babys brain development in the early years, and this has lasting consequences for future emotional and physical health.

In this episode I chat with Kate Codrington about mothering and the menstrual cycle. Because you have available to you a simple yet amazingly valuable tool to make your life as a mother easier, less stressful, calmer and more connected - all through connection to your menstrual cycle. Yes really! It can have a big impact in terms of your energy levels, your emotions, your sleeps - so much is affected by our cycle.

My guest in this episode is the very wonderful Nancy Keen. I really wanted to chat with her about hypnobirthing. To dispelling some of the myths and misunderstandings about what hypnobirthing actually is and how it can fully prepare you for birth, for parenthood and have a more positive pregnancy too.

A meditation to acknowledge what’s here right now. A chance to sit, anchor and feel into your own needs. I hope this enables you to listen with kindness to your body and heart so that you can step into the rest of your day feeling perhaps a little lighter. A pause for you to drop in.

In this episode I speak with lactation consultant Caroline Bolton to dispel some of the myths about feeding babies, as much information we are passed down is simply out of date (or was never even true in the first place!). And caring for and feeding a baby is hard enough, without misinformation.

Another little bonus episode for you. On International Womens Day I wanted to share a few words, a little poem or meditation.You don’t have to close your eyes or anything, it's just a few words of encouragement. A pause for you to drop in.

This is another episode on that topic ever-present on the minds of new (and not so new) Mothers - baby sleep. Specifically WHERE babies should sleep, what is safe, and what science and research tells us about safe infant sleep.

This is a podcast to help you understand self-care a little bit better. And I hope to encourage you to weave more of it into your life. Because its important, for everyone, and especially for mothers and mothers-to-be.

Another little bonus episode for you. On Valentines day a short practice to help quieten your inner critic and show yourself some self-love.

With my guest for this episode, the brilliant Emma Tailby. This episode is a real must for all pregnant women, and all those who've had a baby - recently or indeed ever.

OK so this is a subject that is always being discussed in my Mum & Baby Yoga classes. It causes a lot of worry and stress for all new, and not so new, parents - BABY SLEEP!

Strategies, tips and techniques on how to cope better in a pandemic, to navigate this difficult time - particularly when you are pregnant.

Welcome to the For Modern Mothers podcast. This is a space for all mothers, and mothers to be.