Adventures in Breastfeeding! – gotta love James Valentine from ABC radio, Sydney for turning this serious debate into a positive story – or stories! I have my own story, although it wasn’t exactly in public. When I was breastfeeding my second son we lived on a property in the back blocks of South Australia. Next door were 90 head of milking goats. The property was unfenced and at exactly 4p.m. each day many of the goats would come and eat my washing off the clothesline – they seemed to be particularly fond of cloth nappies! I often forgot to make sure the washing was safely inside, prior to 4p.m. The goats would bleat – very loudly – as they were feasting on my washing which would cause me to have a huge let-down (reflex). My baby never seemed to be awake at that time for a feed (unfortunately)! This went on for many months and my attempts to shoo them away, were all in vain. They are massive animals and quite intimidating, especially if it interfered with eating. Many breastfeeding women find if they are out in public, without their baby and they hear another baby cry, this also sets off a let-down, also certain pitches in music can have the same effect, and of course, having sex, especially with an orgasm. Ah! the wonderful, and sometimes funny side of breastfeeding.

Training as a doula is one of the most rewarding and satisfying career choices. I have had so many enquiries in the last few weeks, about our Doula Training, making me realise there are many people who are unhappy in their current jobs, who are looking for something where they can truly make a difference. It is not just about providing support, education, guidance for a woman during her pregnancy, labour, birthing and post-natally. A doula needs to be ‘totally present’ for a woman, which means she has to put her own ‘stuff’ away and be truly interested in her, her partner, her unborn baby and her choices. She needs to be respectful and understanding. Most importantly she needs to have the capacity to ‘look and listen’, with all her senses, and not make judgements. These are skills that will come naturally to the person who feels drawn to the world of doularing. It is about empowering a woman to trust in her own abilities to birth and following her instincts. This is not easy in this highly medicalised system of birthing that we have developed in this country. Doulas come up against many challenges from women, via the medical system, and a skilled doula has to be able to manage those challenges with grace and respect. I really love this journey with woman, watching her grow, develop, learn and most of all the wonderful changes that take place in her as a woman, mother and partner.

Breastfeeding in public – it is unbelievable that in the year of 2013 and in the major city of Sydney, we are having this debate! I want to get to the stage, as a community, that we embrace and support our women who are breastfeeding mothers. For those who are challenged by the ‘breastfeeding concept’, then try this!!

• Smile warmly and encouragingly at any woman you see breastfeeding.
• Congratulate her on what a magnificent job she is doing in raising a healthy new person
• This new person is OUR next generation and they deserve the best start in life!
• We need the next generation to be very healthy!

This is very simple. If you still think that breasts are for sexual pleasure – ONLY! and cannot think beyond that – then avert your gaze or walk away but don’t ever criticise a mother for doing the absolute best job she can – breastfeeding!

‘Doulas-why every pregnant woman deserves one’ – this book is about birthing with a doula and how employing a doula can transform your birthing experience. Every pregnant woman needs a doula, no matter where you are birthing – home or hospital. Many caregivers (obstetrician or midwife) will very often tell you the opposite. A private obstetrician informed a client I am seeing that she did not need a doula as he would ‘manage’ the birth! Even midwives who are offering a continuity model of care, will tell women they don’t need a doula. this is very disappointing and highlights the lack of understanding about the role of a doula. The relationship a doula develops with a pregnant woman is very different from that of a caregiver. A doula offers true continuity of care physically, emotionally, spiritually and the trust that grows is unique. Women who do employ a doula, understand the importance of having someone they tgrust absolutely and who is going to support and advocate for them and their baby, should the need arise. A caregiver, who is representing our very flawed and broken hospital system, cannot tgruly provide this service. Many midwives find this extremely frustrating. This book can be purchased through our Birth Right website and will give you great insight into labour, birthing with a doula and how this can lead to a peaceful, hypnotic and enjoyable birth for Mum, Dad, and most importantly, baby.

Changing the ideas and thoughts you have about birth, will change the way you birth!

All those negative thoughts and emotions that are deeply embedded, often from the time we are born, into your subconscious, can be eliminated. The process is simple, relaxing and hugely empowering. If you are pregnant and overwhelmed with negative stories from friends, family and the media, then enrol in our hypnobirth pre-natal program and learn the skills that can lead to a wonderful, enlightening and enjoyable birthing experience. Eliminating fears, in the magic of the Blue Mountains is the ideal retreat for any pregnant woman/couple. Make it a babymoon weekend and truly get away from all your daily stresses, devoting this time to really connect with your unborn baby. All details and to book are on the Birth Right website – www.birthright.com.au

My wish for all the 2013 pregnancies is that each and every woman/couple do their research and shop around for the best caregiver, place to birth and pre-natal education. You are making these decisions on behalf of your baby. They are some of the most important choices you will ever make. Both my books – ‘Birth Right’ and ‘Doulas-why every pregnant woman deserves one’, will help you shop around or you can contact me directly for an early consult, which will give you invaluable insight into ‘the system’ and how to best navigate your way around. It is intimidating and confusing, so get some professional help. I was out on NYE with a group of women, all who have adult children, and some who are now grandparents. I am still amazed at how many women, justify the reasons for medical intervention, for themselves or how their grandchildren were born. They truly believe that they have been ‘saved’ by an obstetrician. In the majority of these stories, one fact is clear – they did not have the right information and education to shop around and understand the system. There is a lot of medical bullying happening with pregnant women, and my hope and plan is for 2013 to be a year of more awareness for pregnant women.

Personal Power can so easily be eroded by the medical profession, especially during pregnancy. Do you feel like you don’t know anything? Are you being bombarded with questions about your medical history, drug and alcohol history, obstetric history? Are you being ‘told’ what to do? Are you being ‘directed’ to have so many tests? Do you feel you don’t have any control over your pregnancy? Do you feel you need to hand over your power to the medical professionals – because they are ‘the experts’?

Well guess what? no-one knows your body better than you! no-one knows your growing unborn baby better than you do! Pregnancy and birth are normal life events and yet women all over the world are being bullied into believing they know nothing and they need to hand over all their care and be ‘directed’ by policies and protocols of hospital institutions.

It is time for you to reclaim your Personal Power and TRUST in your body and tune in to your instincts. The hypnobirthing pre-natal program will enlighten you in just how beautiful and simple pregnancy and birthing is. Join us in the beautiful Blue Mountains and learn about your growing baby, connecting on the inside, trusting your instincts and how to get the best out of the ‘system’. Next course 5th & 6th Jan. 2013

New research shows that hospital emergency waiting times are increasing and NSW has the longest, apparently more than 4 hrs. – really?

Problem is that hospital emergency rooms are no longer used for ’emergencies’, i.e. a life-threatening accident, injury or severe illness. All those who present to emergency rooms with ‘common ailments’ should immediately be redirected -OUT of the hospital. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would only go to a hospital if I was sick, ill and dying – and even then I would think twice! They are horrible places and here are some of the reasons you do not want to go to a hospital:

• Smelly
• Especially dirty these days
• Swarming with bugs, some of which cannot even be identified
• Lots of very overworked, stressed staff, who cannot always manage a warm empathic smile
• No guarantee of being properly assessed (due to young, inexperienced, overworked, stressed staff)
• No time to ‘listen’ to each presenting story, so many things get missed
• Close encounter with other peoples’ bugs

So I wonder what people actually want from a hospital?

Each of us need to take responsibility for our own health. Listen to your body, know and understand about your mind/body and how it reacts to different situations.

Trust your own instincts. Imagine if the hospital was closed and you had no access to medical care. What would you do? A large majority of people would work out their own solution, in time, and feel so empowered as a result. Let’s reserve the hospital visit for true emergencies so the expertise of staff can be better utilised.

Older mothers – the never ending debate! New data out shows that the oldest mother to give birth in Australia was 60yrs. old.!! Obviously not her eggs, but did grow and birth (unsure but probably caesarean section). How old is too old? there are so many questions to ask – the most important is thinking about the baby. What is fair for the baby? One needs sooo much energy for small people. I have an 8yr old grandson (and I am a relatively young grandmother) and that can be exhausting. I had him for a week last school holidays, and we had lots of fun, but at the end of the week I was very happy to hand him back to his Mum and enjoy a quiet coffee with uninterrupted reading of the newspaper. I have been there and done that with my own children and now do appreciate ‘my time’. Is that the same for a 60yr old who has never had children? It is impossible to explain the constancy of parenting and the physical, mental, emotional exhaustion that goes along with that. We do need to have some responsibility in thinking about the needs of a child and what is best for them. At 60yrs. of age there is certainly a wealth of life experience. Those parents who are in there 20’s don’t have that but do have boundless energy and enthusiasm to share and a willingness to learn. What do you think?

Imagine having your pregnancy nausea and vomiting discussed on an international level? Hyperemesis is rare but you’ve got to feel very sorry for Kate Middleton. As any pregnant woman who has experienced this, knows the last thing you want is to see or talk to anyone. To have the world’s eyes on you as you leave hospital must have been excruciating, but she handled it with such grace. Whilst we don’t know exactly what causes hyperemesis, like a lot of ‘pregnancy problems’, it can be related to fear! The Duchess must surely be feeling ‘pressure’ and I hope she gets to access some ‘good’ and empowering information, where she can make her own choices about birthing, apart from the medical event that I am sure is planned for her. What can help with nausea and vomiting in pregnancy?

• Acupuncture
• Chiropractice
• Ginger
• Hypnosis

I have looked after many pregnant women over the years who have benefited from these. More recently I have used hypnosis, very successfully. Think I’ll send Kate a copy of both my books? What do you think?

Well the media, this week, have been on the bandwagon of cord blood donation. It can now ‘save’ everyone from developing Type 1 Diabetes! One interview, conducted on, none other than ABC radio (usually reasonably responsible), asked the expert Doctor about leaving the cord blood for the baby? One brave caller had dared to suggest this might be beneficial. The ‘expert’ doctor stated there was no evidence for this and there might be a few ‘fringe’ people who believed this to be true!! Really?? Can’t he read? – all the research which supports delayed cord clamping, including the World Health Organisation (WHO). This wonderful, iron rich cord blood, belongs to the baby, perfusing the new lungs and other vital organs at birth. Suggesting to new parents that it is common for children to develop Type 1 Diabetes is irresponsible FEAR based medicine. It is distressing to hear that the media, especially the ABC are not giving such important subjects proper balance.

When we travel through pregnancy we rarely stop and appreciate where we are and how far we have come. Sally started her pregnancy very cynical and not believing that hypnosis could eliminate any of her fears. She understood that it was important to have an open mind and after attending our hypnobirthing and having an amazing Birth Right doula, she birthed today, confident, empowered and meeting her baby was one of the most beautiful birthing moments I have witnessed.

Many women end up in a hospital pre-natal class (also called ante-natal, childbirth education, parenting classes – all very confusing) by default. I recently saw a couple who were 10wks. pregnant. They had not only booked their private obstetrician, private hospital but said the Obstetrician had ‘automatically’ booked them into the hospital classes. Absolutely no mention of CHOICE! She did not know, as most women don’t, that she has a choice. I know it is very confusing for a newly pregnant person to do all this shopping around (Birth Right book is designed to help), but there is a huge difference between doing a hospital based class compared to a class with an independent childbirth educator. The majority of hospital classes are based on pain management, hospital policies (i.e. what you can and cannot do!) and scare tactics. When shopping around for an independent educator, it is important to ask about their qualification, experience and philosophy of the class. The content of any good, pre-natal education, should be unbiased, research based information discussing the beauty and joy of birthing. They should be empowering women to trust in their birthing body and connect with their baby. Without question our hypnobirthing class does just this, ande more, teaching a life skill for all to use. Dad’s love the techniques, often using them in their work. Women leave the course feeling very calm, confident and at peace with this new found knowledge. Classes book out quickly so check out our available dates or ring/email to enquire about private one-on-one sessions.

Interesting article in SMH Good Weekend about the CEO of Yahoo, who was employed early in her pregnancy, and having limited maternity leave. She also announced she would be working, whilst taking maternity leave – whatever that means! Now we know that a male CEO would not be subjected to the same level of scrutiny, so I admire her for not discussing her birth or maternity leave with the media. Birth does, however, change women. She is impressively educated, and obviously has an astute intelligence, and I hope she chose to get the ‘right’ education about birthing. It will be interesting to follow her career at Yahoo, especially now that she is a mother. Can women have it all? and do it all justice? I think it is very challenging. A baby/child does need it’s mother (overwhelming research to back this), and many women want to have a baby and an uninterrupted career. No matter how much money you have or support systems/networks in place, this is still a huge challenge, the biggest hurdle – dealing with the guilt! Let me know your thoughts.

Hypnosis is a valuable tool I use for de-briefing a traumatic birth experience. It usually takes only one session and allows a woman, and her partner, to move on. I saw a woman today, who really wants to have another baby, but for the last 6 yrs. since her son was born, she has been very traumatised. Time, for her, (that damn biological clock!) is running out, and this is the only reason she has forced herself to look at her last birthing experience and address those traumas and fears. I know so many women who bury these feelings and when they are faced with another pregnancy and impending birth, suddenly all their fears are re-enacted. In an ideal situation it is really important to book a hypnosis session BEFORE you conceive again. This is important not only for a woman, her partner, and especially her baby and their relationship. ‘Relieved’ is a word that women commonly use to express the feeling of being able to re-visit and deal with the issues that have been nagging at them since the birth. Releasing these feelings will enhance the environment in which to conceive a new being, a new pregnancy and a whole new birthing experience.

Susan Ross

Birth Right

This is part of an article in the New Zealand herald, Sep’t. 26th – written by Kate Shuttleworth

“Improving the health of children and preventing child abuse begins even before pregnancy, the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman has told Parliament’s Health Committee

He said the nutritional state of women before and during pregnancy also impacted on the brain development of their children.
“There is growing evidence that the health of offspring is influenced by the behaviours of women from before conception and through pregnancy and lactation.”
He said there was growing research being carried out on the benefits of women and their partners receiving preconception nutrition and lifestyle counselling.
Sir Peter said the family dynamics were partly to blame for poor nutrition because knowledge about raising children wasn’t being passed down from one generation to the next.
Sir Peter also told the select committee the “mood” of the mother during pregnancy also impacted on a baby’s health; particularly their brain development.
“A woman who is depressed during pregnancy will give birth to a baby with parts of their brains developed to different sizes and therefore a shorter attention span, difficulty learning and poor emotional development.”
Sir Peter spoke to the Health Committee on both improving the health of children, but was also asked to speak about child abuse.
He said child abuse had permanent effects on a child’s brain development and children subjected to abuse were more likely to abuse their own children.”

Why is it, that so often, New Zealand seem to be much more ‘aware’ than our own Governments? The above excerpt shows very important reasons why we should be growing, now only physically healthy babies but also emotionally healthy babies. This cannot occur without good education, the right doula support and eliminating women’s fears about pregnancy and birthing. Check out our upcoming hypnosis courses for birthing. It will change your view about birthing and you will leave feeling empowered.

The age-old motherhood debate keeps raising its head with a recent study showing that pregnancy in older women is more common now than teenage pregnancy. We need to ‘get over this’! There are advantages and disadvantages for being young and pregnant and older and pregnant. We all know that after 35yrs. it can take longer to conceive and there is an increase risk in downs syndrome etc. The problem arises with older women, who may need a little help (IVF) to conceive, are then categorised as ‘high risk’ and are often bulldozed into the medical system, incurring an amazing amount of unnecessary medical intervention, throughout their pregnancy, labour, birth. This is indeed a cost on the health dollar. If a woman needs a little bit of assistance to conceive, and this is successful, then she should be regarded as a normal pregnancy, no matter what her age, and be given the same choices as a normal (younger) pregnant woman. There is enough fear surrounding pregnancy and birthing with young women – unfortunately it is increased considerably in the over 35 age group.

Birth de-briefing is so important for everyone. For those who have experienced their beautiful, hypnotic or even orgasmic birthing then they need to talk about it and be encouraged to get out and spread the good word – in fact – shout it from the highest mountain! So many of these women and men tell me they feel guilty and feel they need to ‘tone down’ their amazing experience. This is a really sad reflection on society, who only want to hear about the drama’s and elaborate explanations about all the medical intervention. For those of you who have not had the birth experience you wanted then PLEASE recognise that it is important to de-brief – for your own mental well-being, for your emotional connection with your baby, not only immediately following the birth, but long term. I meet so many women who are in their 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s, who, once they know what I do, can spend hours telling me about their births. They still have, all these years later, anger, frustration, guilt and most of all, big regrets about how much it affected their relationship with that child. They all wished their had been someone to talk to and have their feelings acknowledged. Well today there is, so don’t go into a 2nd or subsequent pregnancy without de-briefing from your first. I use hypnosis for flushing out the deep, sub-conscious feelings surrounding the birthing experience. A woman needs to deal with these before she can truly embrace and look forward to a new pregnancy/birth/baby.

The ‘system’, i.e. the hospital system, never ceases to astound me. Picture this – a young, healthy woman who has birthed beautifully – no medical intervention. The woman ‘mentions’ that she has some concerns re breastfeeding as her sister had very little breast tissue and was unable to produce milk, and her Mum only breastfed for a short period. These are understandable concerns. It’s a bit like birth – the experience of family members is so ingrained in a woman’s sub-conscious that she believes her birth will automatically follow suit. The midwife, who had been looking after this young woman on a post-natal ward, stated that the woman would not be able to breastfeed due to her family history and her small, tubular shaped breasts. Midwife then stated she was ‘allowing’ the baby to have skin to skin contact, just to keep the mother happy! The language surrounding this interaction was extraordinary from a midwife who, by her own admission, was close to retirement and was ‘over’ these complaining women. My suggestion – LEAVE the profession now before you do any more damage. Once a midwife has lost the passion, then it’s time to get out. Why do people stay in jobs they hate? After meeting with this new Mum I was able to reassure her that all appeared very normal. She had normal changes in her breasts, with positive signs of her milk coming in and baby seemed to know what to do. We discussed about the power of the mind, which she understood very well, and how negative comments, particularly when you have the vulnerability that all of us have on Day 3! She chose to go home and focus on the positive, connecting and talking with her baby about how breastfeeding was going to work for them. I have no doubt she will enjoy her breastfeeding. The type of information, and most importantly, how it is presented, is crucial in making sure that we reassure women that, like birth, breastfeeding will also happen normally.

Hypnosis probably has a questionable reputation for many. It is NOT stage hypnosis, you will NOT be unconscious, you will NOT be made to cluck like a chook! You WILL be in total control. You WILL be wide awake. You WILL be fully conscious. You WILL be very relaxed and peaceful as the wonderful benefits of hypnosis release all your fears and anxiety about birth and parenting. I am always in awe of a woman who uses these simple techniques to birth her baby, calmly, quietly and beautifully. To watch her enjoy her birthing and welcoming her baby into the world is a joy to behold. These babies come into the world, wide-eyed and alert, but very calm, just as eager to meet their Mum and Dad as they are. Do yourself and your baby a favour and book into one of our hypnosis programs. You will not regret this decision. Not only do these techniques work for birth, but you will be able to utilize these techniques in everyday life and also introduce them to your baby and children. Remember birth is a normal event in a woman’s life and it is important how we birth our babies.