At the beginning of the 20th century, male Obstetricians dubbed the traditional ‘granny midwives’ in the US dirty and ignorant in order to wrestle control over maternity care and make huge profits. In a breathtakingly Patriarchal and racist move (over half the traditional midwives were Black and their wisdom derived from the traditions protected and … Read more
My youngest baby is 21 years old. I became a doula at the same time. In my time working with new parents and seeing UK maternity services close up there have been a huge number of government investigations into the state of maternity care. In 2010 Front Line Care was commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon … Read more
At the risk of you all getting the impression that I only ever think of my stomach, I am reminded today of the way I used to eat biscuits when I was a child. First, I revelled in the anticipation: just knowing they were there, a whole packet of bourbons or jammy dodgers hidden in … Read more
It’s deeply ingrained, this habit of putting hats on newborns. Search online for images of newborns and almost all of them are togged up in a woolly hat, for all the world like they are about to go outside for a snowball fight. So why do we do it? And why do so many midwives … Read more
Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash Life is complicated. The world is complicated, so that means pregnancy and parenting is complicated, sometimes overwhelmingly so. On a micro level, the million and one choices we have to make every day, the conflicting advice – and the differing needs of all the kids and everyone else we … Read more
by Tracy Sealey I have a confession to make. I am a doula and an antenatal teacher but I am done talking about the medicalisation of childbirth. DONE! For years, we’ve been locked in this endless, circular debate about whether childbirth should be “natural” or “medical,” and it’s getting us nowhere. All we’re doing is … Read more
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