The Doulaverse

This week marked National Breastfeeding week and it was a great opportunity to meet other breastfeeding counsellors, IBCLCs breastfeeding mothers, midwives, PHNs and policy makers.

The week started with the release of breastfeeding figures for the year 2025. As happened last year, the figures for exclusive breastfeeding on discharge from hospital were not issued, instead the data issued were “any” breastfeeding. The media ran with “any breastfeeding” as if it denoted exclusive breastfeeding.

This podcast looks at what this masking and massaging of data means for mothers and also for those that are predatorially marketing alternative feeding products to mothers.

Breastfeeding and infant feeding are a corner stone of my Comprehensive doula training when we look at the postnatal and also changes in the pregnant body. If you are interested in joining this year’s training running from October 2026 to October 2027 then click the link below:

https://www.dublindoula.com/doula-training-course-with-krysia-lynch

Why I would always suggest Comprehensive Doula Training over solely birth doula training or postpartum doula training.

1. It enables you to build deeper relationships with clients by supporting them from pregnancy through the postpartum period. You will also gain a full understanding of the full journey of pregnancy labour birth and the postnatal

2. It genuinely offers people continuity of care in their maternity journey which is so vital to improve outcomes.

3. It gives you a business advantage in that It enables you as a birth professional to diversify your services and income by offering a full spectrum of care. So you can offer antenatal services, birth preparation, advocacy courses, labour position workshops, partner prostatitis, birth doula services, loss services and support as well as full postnatal care for birth the birth parent and their family

4. It offers you lifestle adaptations. You can adapt to both your OWN needs for example as a parent of young children who can only do postnatal or antenatal work or as someone who may be working two jobs and cannot be on call during the day.

5. You can adapt to your clients’ evolving needs, whether they require antenatal information, birth support, postpartum care, or both, or whether they require support through loss.

To hear more listen in!

To learn more about or sign up for Comprehensive Doula Training click below:

https://www.dublindoula.com/doula-training-course-with-krysia-lynch

#krysialynch #dublindoula #birthdoula #postnataldoula #doulatraining

Can I tell you something about becoming a doula? Sometimes the call doesn't sound like a voice telling you what to do. Sometimes it just won't leave you alone.

If becoming a doula keeps coming back into your mind, maybe stop asking yourself whether it's practical for a minute. Ask yourself why you keep coming back to it.

In this episode I discuss the many calls that people get. Maybe one of them is yours? Thy include:

You keep thinking about becoming a doula

You were “the doula” before you knew what a doula was

You can't stop talking about birth

Someone tells you, “You'd make a great doula.” - and it lands differently for you than other things people say

You have your own birth story that propels you

You want work that actually matters

You don't think you're “doula material” even though you feel the draw to the work

You keep finding yourself in rooms where women need support

You feel jealous when someone else says they're becoming a doula

You think it's too late (or too early!)

You think you need to know everything first

The moment you realise this doula thing isn't just an interest

You keep returning to it. You keep researching. You keep imagining yourself doing it. At some point, you have to ask yourself why.

Listen in . . . . .

If you've felt called to support families through pregnancy and birth, this is your opportunity to turn that passion into meaningful action. Take the first step toward a rewarding career that makes a real difference.

More details here: https://www.dublindoula.com/doula-training-course-with-krysia-lynch

Currently there are amazing bonus offers which end 31st August 2026

Birth is one of the most profound experiences in a person's life. As a doula, you have the opportunity to provide the guidance, reassurance, and support that families remember forever.

Krysia Lynch's Doula Training is designed to equip you with the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills to support people through pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period with professionalism, empathy, and excellence.

Whether you're starting a new career, expanding your work in maternal wellbeing, or following a calling to support families, this training will help you build a strong foundation and a meaningful future.

• Supporting parents through one of the most important days of their lives

• Providing calm, informed guidance during pregnancy and labour

• Building a flexible and rewarding career

• Becoming part of a supportive community of birth professionals

• Making a lasting difference for families in your community

• Aspiring doulas seeking professional training

• Birth workers wanting to expand their skills

• Healthcare professionals interested in person-centred birth support

• Parents inspired by their own birth experiences

• Anyone passionate about supporting families during pregnancy and birth

No previous doula experience is required.

If you've felt called to support families through pregnancy and birth, this is your opportunity to turn that passion into meaningful action. Take the first step toward a rewarding career that makes a real difference.

Listen to the Info Session below to find out more

More details here: https://www.dublindoula.com/doula-training-course-with-krysia-lynch

Currently there are amazing bonus offers which end 30th June 2026

What is the story with Private maternity care in Ireland?

Why do people choose this model?

1. They can afford it

2. We’ve been conditioned into believing it's better than public care

3. We’ve been conditioned into believing it's a real "choice" but isn't it just different ways of getting highly interventionist medicalised childbirth?

4. It offers continuity of care. Only other place to get that is via the home birth service.

5. You might get your chosen consultant in labour and you might get a private room. Not the use of the word might.

But

1. But what about getting continuity of care from a doula?

2. What about offering some real choices like birth centres and midwifery case load options?

3. What about putting private maternity care in private hospitals, like any other private care?

4. What about reinvesting the money publicly spent on private care in public spaces into high quality needs based maternity care for all?

5. How about investing in more midwives and doctors?

6. What about highlighting these as priorities for the next maternity strategy?

Next Comprehensive Doula Training starts October 2026 and registrations are open NOW. Suitable for people who know lots about birth, suitable for people who have never given birth, suitable for people who know nothing but feel a call, suitable for those with great personal birth experiences, with challenging experiences and also with no experiences at all. Be the change!

The training is offered livein person, live on zoom and on demand by playback!

More details here: https://www.dublindoula.com/doula-training-course-with-krysia-lynch

Currently there are amazing bonus offers which end 30th June 2026

What is the difference between a midwife and a doula? Are doulas just wannabe midwives? Find out some of the differences in training, approach, continuity and functions. Also find out why so many midwives are considering switching career to being a doula. Can doulas act as midwives in freebirths? What are the legal implications of working as a birthkeeper in Ireland? For this and much more listen in.

Next Comprehensive Doula Training starts October 2026. Suitable for midwives looking to move out of obstetric settings, suitable for people who know lots about birth, suitable for people who have never given birth, suitable for people who know nothing but feel a call, suitable for those with great personal birth experiences, with challenging experiences and also with no experiences at all.

But of course the training is also offered live on zoom and by playback!

More details here: https://www.dublindoula.com/doula-training-course-with-krysia-lynch

Currently there are amazing bonus offers which end 30th June 2026

Unbelievably for Ireland studies show that about ¾ mothers interviewed antenatally actually want and plan to breastfeed their babies, but somewhere along that continuum from antenatal visit to coming home from hospital with their newborn baby things change, and we know that only about 35% of women actually do breastfeed their baby exclusively after giving birth. What influences this decline in breastfeeding and how can we as doulas and other birth workers and health care specialists reverse it and support mothers in their feeding journeys to achieve their own goals rather than those set by a medicalised birthing culture? If you want to find out listen in. If you genuinely want to be part of the change and offer support to breastfeeding families then maybe my Lactation Doula Training is for you?

Next in person training is 25th to 26th April in Dublin

But of course the training is also offered live on zoom and by playback!

More details here:https://www.dublindoula.com/breastfeeding-support-training-for-doulas

PS this is a unique training offered by an IBCLC specifically to suit doulas and other postnatal care givers. It is not a generic breastfeeding course you will find anywhere else. It is entirely bespoke founded on the 20 years of experience I have in working with postnatal mothers. It specifically focuses on solving problems and identifying solutions to the most common issues you will encounter. It also offers a Lactation Doula Certification if you choose.

Baroness Amos spoke to over 8,000 people in the UK about maternity care. Many of the aspects that she highlighted as gaps also feature in the Irish Maternity Services. Listen in to hear Niamh Griffin Health Correspondent with the Irish Examiner and myself discuss some of these in more detail including institutional racism, lack of choice in care options, poor communication, maternal death, coercion, over medicalisation of labour and birth, poor working conditions and understaffing

With the closure of PMI there has been an increased spotlight on Freebirth. There are a a lot of rumours surrounding freebirth; for example that it is illegal(it is not), that it is reckless (it is not), that it is not a real choice (it is).

On this episode of the Doulaverse I speak with Claire Kerin about her decision to freebirth and also about her freebirth experience - what it felt like, what they had to do to prepare and how they interacted with midwives and the hospital . Listen in to find out more.

If you are interested in supporting women in their choices, then maybe doula training is for you. Find out about the next doula training here There are two fabulous bonuses worth 600 Euros available if you sign up before the 31st August

Private Midwives Ireland were the sister company of Private Midwives UK In Ireland they were the only care provider offering a HBAC service (Home Birth After Caesarean Section).

Prior to their inception in 2015, women who were looking for a home birth following a c section remained unable to access this choice in the Republic of Ireland.

Choices in home births and what midwives could deliver in terms of home birth services became severely restricted in 2011 following the Nurses and Midwives Act. This Act set out that it was illegal to attend a birth without insurance. Meanwhile insurance could only be provided to midwives practicing in the community in Ireland by the state. So the State indemnity authority drew up a list of things they would not insure midwives for; attending someone with a previous caesarean section was one of these things .

So we had a situation where women could not access individual assessment, instead a blanket assessment (dictated by insurance brokers) was imposed unilaterally on all women and on all midwives. This appalling situation continued for four years until the emergence of PMI. PMI was a game changer for so many women and their demise will leave a big hole to be filled in Ireland.

Listen in to myself and Claire Kerin talk about the loss of PMI and what it will mean in terms of birth choices in Ireland and also what people who were booked in with them could do.

If you would like to know more about choices and supporting women in maternity services in Ireland, then maybe my doula training is for you. Find out more here There are two fabulous bonuses available until 31st August 2025 worth 600 Euro!