SarahOckwell-Smith

How to Heal from a Traumatic Birth & Bond with Your Baby

Bonding issues are so common but so rarely discussed in our society, there is such a stigma attached to a new mother who isn’t head over heels in love with her newborn. Commonly these feelings appear after a traumatic birth experience and it is with this in mind that I am writing this post. TheContinue reading “How to Heal from a Traumatic Birth & Bond with Your Baby”

Preparing for Birth – 8 Tips for an Easier Labour.

With my first baby I was determined to do everything right and have the ‘perfect’ birth. I went to NCT classes, read the monthly pregnancy magazines and watched every birth programme I could on TV. I wrote a three page long birth plan, that at best was hoping for miracles, and my bag was packedContinue reading “Preparing for Birth – 8 Tips for an Easier Labour.”

Top Ten Babymoon Tips – AKA How to Enjoy the Time after Your Baby is born.

I always thought the term babymoon sounded a little bit odd, the sort of thing only hippies would do, locking themselves away from the rest of the world with their babies for days after the birth. I wanted to show my baby off to the world, I wanted to get back to normal and mostContinue reading “Top Ten Babymoon Tips – AKA How to Enjoy the Time after Your Baby is born.”

Do Fathers need to Bottlefeed to Bond with their Babies?

“I want the baby to take a bottle so his dad can feed him and start to bond.” This is SUCH a strongly perpetuated myth, so many mothers express or give a bottle of formula so that their partners “can feed the baby and bond a bit”, but really, it is totally unecessary, there areContinue reading “Do Fathers need to Bottlefeed to Bond with their Babies?”

Why Gentle Parenting is NOT Permissive Parenting

It’s a common misconception, those who parent their babies and children with respect and compassion are deemed “permissive parents”. These gentle permissive parents are seen as always letting their offspring get their own way, thus creating future selfish ‘me, me’ and ‘I want it all – NOW’ adults. Many describe gentle parents as being “too childContinue reading “Why Gentle Parenting is NOT Permissive Parenting”

What Should you do When Children Lie?

ometimes I am the parent I want to be and sometimes my parenting elicits the response I am hoping for. Before you think I am perfect (or indeed think I think I am perfect which is perhaps even worse!) I’d like to point out here I have many, many failings as a mother and frequentlyContinue reading “What Should you do When Children Lie?”

Big Babies – Birthing a Macrosomic Infant – Part 2.

This is part 2 of a two part blog on ‘big babies’ please CLICK HERE for part 1. So What are Your Birth Options with a Big Baby? Having birthed four big babies myself and through my involvement in the birthing scene ever since, I have come to conclude that if you are carrying a suspectedContinue reading “Big Babies – Birthing a Macrosomic Infant – Part 2.”

Big Babies – The Curse of (mis) Diagnosing a Macrosomic Infant Part.1

Thousands of women are diagnosed with suspected big babies (or ‘macrosomia’ to use the medical terminology) every year, but this one simple label can have a profound effect on their birth. Obstetric consultants often take the results of growth scans as gospel, scheduling elective C-Sections or inductions as a result of them, but how accurateContinue reading “Big Babies – The Curse of (mis) Diagnosing a Macrosomic Infant Part.1”

What Rod? Our Experience of BedSharing to Age 4.

When my firstborn, arrived in 2002 Gina Ford frenzy was in full force. You weren’t a good mother if your baby didn’t sleep through by 12 wks and didnt have a routine you could set your watch by and you especially weren’t a good mum if your baby didn’t self settle to sleep in hisContinue reading “What Rod? Our Experience of BedSharing to Age 4.”

The Fourth Trimester – AKA Why Your Newborn Baby is Only Happy in Your Arms

“My baby is only happy in my arms, the minute I put her down she cries” “He sleeps really well but only when he’s laying on my chest, he hates his moses basket” “She cries every time we lay her on her play mat” “He hates going in his pram, he cries the second weContinue reading “The Fourth Trimester – AKA Why Your Newborn Baby is Only Happy in Your Arms”