The Midwives' Cauldron

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

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Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
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🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

On this incredible episode, we get the pleasure of picking the brain of Dr Sarah Buckley, where we go on a journey into the hormones from conception to pregnancy, birthing to feeding, bonding & attachment.

Sarah Buckley is a New-Zealand-trained GP/family physician with qualifications in GP-obstetrics and family planning. She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, where her research is focused on oxytocin and the autonomic nervous system in labour and birth, and the impacts of interventions.

Dr Buckley’s work critiques current practices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting from the widest possible perspectives, including scientific, anthropological, cross-cultural, psychological, and personal. She encourages us to be fully informed in our decision-making; to listen to our hearts and our intuition; and to claim our rightful role as the real experts in our bodies and our children.

She is well known from her incredible and bestselling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices.

And her ongoing interest in the hormones of labour and birth, culminated in her groundbreaking report Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing This report, available for free online, has been described as “…one of the most revolutionary and influential publications on maternity and newborn care ever issued.”

Sarah tells us much more about oxytocin - that marvellous feel good hormone, that really does control so much of our bodily functions. Sarah answers questions about whether oxytocin and synthetic oxytocin (syntocinon/pitocin) act the same in labour and birth. 

We talk contractions and how they work, pain relief in labour and the important role oxytocin plays, the effects of Epidurals on oxytocin and how they affect the mother's brain in labour. And even get time to discuss postnatal personality changes due to the hormones… And so, so much more! 

LINKS:
Sarah's website

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode, we interview Lily Nichols RDN. Lily is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author with a passion for evidence-based prenatal nutrition. Her work is known for being research-focused, thorough, and critical of outdated dietary guidelines. She is co-founder of the Women’s Health Nutrition Academy and the author of two books, Real Food for Pregnancy and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes. Lily’s bestselling books have helped tens of thousands of mamas (and babies!), are used in university-level maternal nutrition and midwifery courses, and have even influenced prenatal nutrition policy internationally. She writes at https://lilynicholsrdn.com/

 Lily’s second book, Real Food for Pregnancy, is an evidence-based look at the gap between conventional prenatal nutrition guidelines and what’s optimal for mother and baby. With over 930 citations, this is the most comprehensive text on prenatal nutrition to date.

 Lily is also creator of the popular blog, LilyNicholsRDN.com, which explores a variety of topics related to real food, mindful eating, and pregnancy nutrition.

 We talk about what is 'real' food, not just the difference between processed food and whole unprocessed food, its not just that! Of course, we touch on diet & supplements for pregnancy, diet for those women diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and we even manage to fit in the best nutrition for recovery post-birth and breastfeeding. This is a wonderful episode full of golden nuggets! I know you'll thoroughly enjoy it and if you can please share this on your socials & tag us in your stories, plus we are so grateful to all of you who take that extra 5 mins to write us a review on Apple podcast to really help get this podcast out to a wider audience, and hey that can only be a good thing right?! 

 So sit back, get a hot water bottle and warm socks like me right now, or if your down under like Rachel grab a fan and open a window to enjoy this incredible episode.   

LINKS:
Lily Nichols RDN https://lilynicholsrdn.com/
Real food for pregnancy and Real  food for gestational diabetes books https://

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode, Rachel and I discuss all things placentas! 

We look more deeply at the time it takes to transfer blood from the placenta into the baby after birth and what the reason for this is. Rachel makes a stand for the “forgotten placenta” as well as bringing in some blokes named Erasmus from 1796 and Pierre from 1875 to make our jaws drop when she reveals what they were saying about letting the blood from the placenta flow to the baby all that time ago! 

And of course, we look further at expectant and active management of the placenta and how this looks in our current day hospital systems, Lotus birth, and the history of ceremonially cutting of the cord. We also dive fully into “confessions of a vampire”, as Rachel puts it!: Cord blood banking and all it entails, according to the current research. 

LINKS:

MWT blog posts: 

• An actively managed placenta may be the best option for most women
• The Placenta: essential resuscitation equipment
• Cord blood collection: confessions of a vampire-midwife 

Research: Birthing the placenta: women's decisions and experiences
Research: Third stage management practices 

Rachel Reed: https://www.rachelreed.website/
Patreon donation page: https://www.patreon.com/themidwivescauldron
Instagram: @themidwivescauldron

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode Professor Hannah Dahlen talks us through her incredible beginnings growing up as the daughter of a midwife and her early initiation into the birth world in Yemen. How her passion for feminism and supporting women was seeded into her through her young girl experiences seeing and recognising how differently women and girls are treated and seen.  Hannah shares with us her own connection to the real-life 'Call the midwife' book through her mother's experience working in the east end of London. And she kindly shares with us her incredible and heartfelt story from midwife to professor, and what keeps her fire burning to continually strive to improve the outcomes for women and infants globally. 

Hannah's interview with us is one of story and delight, utter strength and empowerment despite the odds. A must-listen for everyone, as this will definitely leave you feeling positive for the future and grateful for women like Hannah who work in this field. 

Hannah Dahlen is the Professor of Midwifery, Discipline Leader of Midwifery, and Associate Dean (Research and Higher Degree Research) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University. She has been a midwife for 30 years and still practices. 

Hannah has over 200 papers and book chapters and has strong national and international research partnerships. She has received 20 grants since 2000, including being CI on three NHMRC grants and an ARC Linkage grant. She has spoken at over 100 national and international conferences in the past 5 years and given invited keynote addresses at most of these.

In 2019 Hannah was awarded a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her significant services to midwifery, nursing, and medical education and research. In November 2012 Hannah was named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 “people who change our city for the better” and named as one of the leading “science and knowledge thinkers” for 2012.

LINKS:
Prof Hannah Dahlen on IG: @hannahdahlen
Overview of research

Support the show 

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode we have got Dr Sara Wickham back! Sara’s newest book titled In Your Own Time: How western medicine controls the start of labour and why this needs to stop, is a masterclass in what the evidence really says about induction of labour and a fascinating insight into how birth has come to be controlled by Western medicine. 

Staggeringly, over a third of all pregnant women have their labour medically induced, and this is accompanied by a tsunami of avoidable medical interventions. Worldwide, this trend is growing at an alarming rate. This is despite both a lack of evidence demonstrating its benefits and a wealth of evidence indicating the significant short- and long-term negative impacts of induction on the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies.

Sara discusses with us how her timely book, in light of the newly released NICE Inducing labour guidelines, demystifies the evidence and highlights the significant discrepancies between guidelines and what we really know about the benefits of supporting women to birth spontaneously.

Sara is a midwife, speaker, bestselling author and researcher who works independently. Sara’s career has been varied and includes more than twenty years of experience as a midwife, lecturer and researcher. She is the author/editor of seventeen books and is the Director of the Birth Information Project. She divides her working time between speaking, writing, facilitating online courses, creating resources and undertaking a wide variety of consultancy projects and advisory activities.

LINKS:
Dr Sara Wickham website: www.sarawickham.com

The book’s webpage www.sarawickham.com/time 

Instagram  @drsarawickham
Facebook  fb/saramidwife

The Cauldron MERCH!

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode we go on an hour-long whistle-stop tour all about low  milk supply. We touch on topics such as: 

• How many women experience low milk supply
• Breast refusal
• Re-building milk supply
• Donor milk
• Nipple teat confusion
• Breast reduction surgery
• The top up trap
• Medications that could affect milk supply
• Witching hours and COLIC 

Phew! It's jam packed.  We even have some great 80s or is it 90s movie references and some Ah-mazing accents from two of our comedy idols - Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. You can't miss this, and nor can your friends so go on, shout out the window now and tell 'em to put the kettle on as you're popping round with the podcast they need to hear!

LINKS:
Rachel Reed: https://www.rachelreed.website/
Patreon donation page: https://www.patreon.com/themidwivescauldron
Instagram: @themidwivescauldron
Resources for low milk supply:

• https://www.thewomens.org.au/health-information/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-problems/low-milk-supply
• https://professoramybrown.co.uk/
• https://professoramybrown.co.uk/research
• https://kellymom.com/ages/newborn/bf-basics/importance-responsive-feeding/
• https://kellymom.com/hot-topics/low-supply/ 
• https://dianawest.com/books/

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode we have with us Dr Florence Wilcock , an obstetrician who has been working in NHS maternity services for more than 25 years. Florence has a special interest in improving women’s experience of maternity care & has been a consultant in London since 2007 where she is currently the lead obstetrician for Perinatal mental health as well as working with the Birth Options team, and homebirth team.
 As a member of the London Maternity Clinical Network Florence was responsible for the innovative Maternity ‘Whose Shoes’ co production workshops piloted across London in 2014. As a result she co-founded #MatExp with Gill Phillips; a grassroots movement of women, families and staff caring for them & working together to improve maternity services, and is also a clinical representative on the Royal College of Obs & Gyn women’s network.
Florence hosts the podcast TheObsPod. Where she works towards demystifying obstetrics and help both maternity staff and families.
Today we talk about how midwives and obstetricians can work more collaboratively in the hospital system.
We discuss safety, the current discussions on physiological birth as radical thinking and the thoughts of some who propose inductions for everyone!
Florence talks us through her Lithotomy challenge & the simple power of nurturing touch. She clearly points out how this education tool can spark our knowledge of how disempowering this can be for a woman.
And we discuss how the small changes, or what is often known as the 'warm and fluffies' for both obstetrician and midwife, can make a significant difference for the woman physiologically as well as emotionally.
And Florence leaves us with her zesty "nuggets" for us all to work in a space that benefits and protects women, midwives and obstetricians.

Links:
Dr Florence Wilcock:
The Obs Pod podcast
Twitter @FWMaternity and @TheObsPod 
Instagram @TheObsPod 
"Whose shoes" #matexp with Gill Phillips 

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

We'll be back soon. Thanks for being with us for Season 2; all the in-depth conversations, truth-bombs, singing, laughter and so many golden nuggets!  It's great to have you with us in this big bubbling cauldron of goodness. 

Watch out for the beginning of Season 3 on our Instagram page where we have some great stuff coming up for you all. 

Please check out our links below. 

LINKS: 

Dr Rachel Reed - https://rachel-reed.website/

Our Patreon page - https://www.patreon.com/themidwivescauldron 

Our Instagram page - https://www.instagram.com/themidwivescauldron/

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.

In this episode, we talk with Bashi Kumar-Hazard.  Bashi is an Australian-based lawyer who works to promote the human rights of women and infants in the provision of maternity healthcare.  She has represented families and healthcare providers defending their human rights in coronial inquests, court proceedings, and civil disputes. Her background experience is in the field of competition and consumer law. She is currently completing a PhD in anti-competitive practices in maternity healthcare at the University of Sydney Law School. Bashi has been a director of Human Rights in Childbirth since 2014. In that role, she has collaborated with consumer groups in a number of countries, the World Health Organisation, and the International Confederation of Midwives to advocate for and defend women's rights in pregnancy and childbirth.

We discuss what is the law and what rights do women have over their bodily autonomy, the 2020 CEDAW case confirming that obstetric violence is a form of gender-based violence built on discriminatory stereotypes and perceptions about women, the special Rapporteur's report on abuse and disrespect in childbirth, and gender-based violence. We also discuss accountability for maternity care and how it can affect systemic change.

LINKS: 
Human Rights In Childbirth (HRiC) - Bashi Kumar Hazard http://humanrightsinchildbirth.org/

Submission from HRiC on informed consent to NICE - 


HRiC's submission - 

Special Rapporteur's report - 
.

The report is also available in French and Spanish - 

Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women -https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx

Report on a human-rights based approach to mistreatment and obstetric violence during childbirth - https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/Mistreatment.aspx

Dr Rachel Reed - https

Head over to The Latch Revolution Podcast to continue the conversations with Katie James and Johanna Sargeant, IBCLCs

Click here if you would like to find out more about Decoding The Suck  and advance your clinical skills in lactation and suck assessment.

Support the show

Resources & Support

Get Katie’s Milk Supply Confidence Kit — a free resource to help pregnant women, new parents and professionals feel calm, informed, and confident about breastfeeding.
👉 Download here

⭐Leave a Review
Enjoying the podcast? Leave us a review and tell your friends!

Want More from Katie and Rachel?
– Katie’s website
– Rachel’s website

🎶 Music by Joseph McDade


Disclaimer
The information shared in this podcast is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional regarding individual health concerns.

The Midwives’ Cauldron podcast does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and accepts no liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content.