In this episode Zoe discusses with me how she had her first baby at 22 and really struggled with feeding. How she had to hand express for the first week and use nipple shields for first few months. 

She tells her story of how no one listened when she was saying how painful breastfeeding was, despite having purple nipples and a baby who fed constantly, all the time, with hardly any breaks. 

Eventually Zoe found out that her baby had a posterior tongue tie. She was only able to get it released when he was 6 months. Despite this she fed him until he was 4 years old.

During the COVID pandemic Zoe had her second baby. She tells of how she was really left to it on her own, despite having a seven year gap between babies and feeling like she had forgotten everything. Zoe is currently still breastfeeding her 3.5 year old little girl. 

We also talk about milk blebs, dealing with a postpartum injury and navigating breastfeeding.

And Zoe tells us how this led to her setting up a women’s health hub in her hometown of Hartlepool, to make up for all the lost support that never returned after the pandemic. 

It is inspirational to hear Zoe talk of what she has grown in this incredible hub. 

Join me as I interview Zoe Gardiner is a research scientist, currently studying for her PhD, a full spectrum doula, and the founder of Postpartum Matters CIC - a non-profit committed to supporting women of all ages and stages whilst amplifying and highlighting real, honest postpartum stories, and an autistic mother to two.

LINKS:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

Claire Summers joins me in this episode. Claire is the voice behind Claire’s Itchy Feet and Claire Summers Speaks. A seasoned travel influencer, yoga teacher, and a passionate advocate for conscious parenting and wellness. With over a decade of experience as a content creator, Claire blends her journey through motherhood, wellness practices, and adventures across the globe into inspiring narratives and practical advice.
In this episode Claire talks with me about her two experinces with breastfeeding but with a focus on her second baby who was born at 29 weeks premature. 

Claire tells me about the pressure to start hand expressing, the fear, overwhlem and the courage needed to get through. 

Claire talks about how providing milk for her baby at this time felt like the one thing only she could provide for him.  

We discuss how Claire exclusively pumped for 6 weeks, how her baby’s tonuge tie was released when he was just 33 weeks corrected age and how that helped set them on their path to feeding at the breast. 

And how when one person advocates for you, giving you the encouragement that “you can” go home breastfeeding your baby, it massively helped Claire power through all the other information being bombared at her,  and she left the hospital exclusively breastfeeding. 

We discuss how and why it is often the norm for most mothers of premature babies to be encouraged to start bottle feding in the hospital and told instead to get breastfeeding going once you’re back in the comfort of your own home, and why it is often not as ‘easy’ as it sounds. 
 As we recorded  Claire’s little man was 3 months old and she was still experiencing the roller coaster ride of having a baby come into the world too soon. I am grateful to Claire for her open and honest talk with me. 

 Thank you for being with us today, thank you for taking the time to listen and share in this growing collective of stories. 

 LINKS:
Claire Summers Speaks
Claires Itchy Feet
Instagram 

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

In this episode I talk to Nicole, who is currently breastfeeding her 16 month old daughter.  Amber is Nicole’s miracle rainbow baby after losses and fertility struggles.

Nicole shares with me so many insightful and real aspects of ‘normal’ breastfeeding. Even when everything on paper seems ‘perfect’ it still comes with it’s challenges. 

We discuss:

• Getting started with breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding past the first year
• Dealing with growth spurts and very frequent feeding
• Biting during feeding
•  Public feeding- the taboos, the comments, and the way to deal with this whilst still staying in your power 
• How being stubborn can really benefit as you embark on the role of motherhood!

This episode is such a wonderful example of a really great breastfeeding experience, one that comes with all the interesting ranges of normal and gives insight on how to tackle these moments which I know so many will be or have experienced. 

(Before we go into this episode I have to just say please bear with us for the first 2.5 minutes as there is some background noise from beautiful little Amber which I was unable to edit out. After this point the audio is clearer and easier to listen to.)

Apple podcast reviews - this REALLY helps other new mums and parents find this show and perhaps helps them on their own feeding journey. That 5 minutes of your time could help make a massive difference in someones else's feeding journey. Telling stories is such an important learning tool and support; please help me get the word out about this resource to as many people as possible. 

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

Maayan describes herself as a first time mum who knew nothing about pregnancy or birth but after fighting to have a vaginal birth for her first baby who was breech for most of her pregnancy,  she has found the entire process to be life changing beyond imagination; not just literally & physically but spiritually, mentally, emotionally and socially. 

In this episode Maayan shares with me how her original thoughts on feeding were that breastfeeding was “yuk” and she thought the best option would be to express and bottle feed. When her little girl was born she immediately felt the pull to breastfeed her. Maayan tells of us of the challenges they faced as her little girl was born with a severe tongue tie. She shares how how long she had to wait to get it released and the mix of emotions which goes with making this decision. Maayan thanks her oversupply, fast let down and determination for getting her through, and never needing to give a bottle. They are still breastfeeding on demand at 15 months. And Maayann gives us insight into some of the highligts and bumps which they have navigated to get this far.  

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

Ros Ginn is mum to three children, whose experiences of pregnancy, birth and postnatal care has led to her becoming a hypnobirthing instructor and doula. 

Ros is a strong advocate of sharing good and accurate information, so that people are able to make the right choices for themselves - whether that’s about birth, breastfeeding, or parenting in general.

In this episode Ros talks about breastfeeding her three children, all of whom had tongue ties which needed releasing. Ros weaves her story from the challenges of feeding with an unrecognised tongue tie and not trusting her own instincts with her first, to having a traumatic second birth but still being able to quickly recognise what was wrong with breastfeeding and alleviate it, to her third baby being born at home with a powerful home birth experience, again being faced with the challenge of breastfeeding through a lot of pain but having gone full circle, and now finding the strength and confidence in herself to move through her feeding experience so much easier. 

LINKS:
Instagram: 
@rosboz  
@rosginn.birthsupport

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

Vanessa, Kim and their daughter Alina are Australian family who were living in Switzerland when their daughter was born. Vanessa’s background is as a researcher in the breastfeeding field. Her work has been pertinent to all of us in the lactation world and changed our way of thinking about how babies suck during breastfeeding in particular. It is a pleasure that Vanessa and her husband Kim share with me their breastfeeding story.  

In this episode it is really lovely to hear from the perspective of mum and dad as we delve into the thoughts, feeling and emotions of the first week challenges of breast refusal, needing to express to build supply in the first month, the value of help every day from the midwife and lactation consultant, the hormonal changes and emotional weight of those early days as well as the joys and challenges as breastfeeding progresses and moves in to toddler feeding. 

LINKS:
Vanessa's research

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

Heather had a career as a playwright before becoming a Midwife. Approaching 40, gay and single, she decided to have a baby with her best friend Adam, and they co-parent harmoniously together. 

In this episode we discuss trying to establish breastfeeding when her baby was in the special care nursery for the first few days, how formula tops up led to a cascade of feeding interventions, pumping and topping-up, using breastmilk and formula milk and all kinds of gadgets! 

Heather shares with us how she later took on a midwifery infant feeding role in her local hospital, which has gone a long way to resolving some of the trauma and guilt she suffered from her personal breastfeeding experience. Heather’s challenging breastfeeding journey led her to becoming a fierce advocate for better breastfeeding support and on the path to sitting for the IBCLC lactation consultant exam in 2024. 

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.

Welcome to The Feeding Couch podcast with me, Katie James. 

I am a midwife and Lactation Consultant and over the years of working with many families I’ve seen such a variety of feeding journeys and I can tell you that not one of them is the same. 

In our worId of perfect portrals of postpartum on social media I feel its time to shine a light on the real stories, raw, uncensored, challenging, triumphant and just plain real life.  
Listen in as me and my guests delve into the world of feeding during those first weeks, months and years which will hopefully also support you to navigate your own feeding journey. 

Send us a text

Resources & Links

Get your FREE Milk Supply Confidence Kit

Feel calm, informed and confident about breastfeeding—whether you’re a parent or a professional.

Download here

Online Courses by Katie James

– Pregnant or just had your baby? Start with The Feeding Couch

– A midwife, doula, or health professional? Join Breastfeeding & Lactation: The Fundamentals

Support the Show

If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade

Disclaimer

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. While we aim for accuracy, no guarantee is made that the content is error-free or up to date. Always seek guidance from a qualified health professional for individual concerns.

The Feeding Couch podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any of the content provided.