In this episode Rachel talks to Katie about all the wondrous and darn right fascinating things about the amniotic sac.  ·      Why is the baby surrounded by fluid, and what is it made of? ·      Women are often told they have too much or too little fluid. Is this a problem? ·      We also discuss why Rachel is (slightly!) obsessed with the function of the amniotic sac during labour ·      We ask does breaking the amniotic sac (the waters) speed up labour at any point? ·      What if your...

In this episode I discuss with Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly all things pregnancy sickness and Hyperemesis.  Just a few months ago the scientific evidence was published highlighting what causes pregnancy sickness and hyperemesis. This breakthrough discovery came from the work of Prof Sir O’Rahilly, his team and the team from Dr Marlena S. Fejzo in the US. This ground breaking work gives hope to thousands of women globally who suffer terribly throughout their pregnancy with extreme nausea...

Lara Briden is a naturopathic doctor and bestselling author of the books Period Repair Manual and Hormone Repair Manual — practical guides to treating period problems with nutrition, supplements, and bioidentical hormones.  With a strong science background, Lara sits on several advisory boards and is the lead author on a couple of peer-reviewed papers.  She has more than 20 years’ experience in women’s health and currently has consulting rooms in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she treats...

Where and how women choose to birth matters. Born at Home is a stunning documentary film exploring what it takes to have a positive and transformative birth experience.  Empowered by the homebirth of her second child in 2020, Amanda Banks together with long term dear friend Eleanor Currie, set out to create a film exploring Homebirth in QLD. With a passion for telling stories about the human experience. Their film 'Born At Home' explores the emotional journey of homebirth.  ​The film...

Wendy Jones BSc, MSc, PhD, MRPharmS is known for her work on providing a service on the compatibility of drugs in breastmilk and has been a registered breastfeeding supporter for 36 years. She is passionate that breastfeeding should be valued by all and that medication should not be a barrier. In her employed life she was a primary care pharmacist. Wendy left paid work 12 years ago to concentrate on writing her books and developing her website to provide information for mothers and...

 Bonnie Hughes is a midwife, with a background in musical theater and journalism. She is the creator of the podcast series Making a Midwife, and an animation film-maker hobbyist. Bonnie is passionate about the power of story, and how the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we live, the stories we are part of, and the characters we play in those stories shape the future. Bonnie explores, both through her midwifery work and her art how she can create a positive and uplifting impact for both...

Two beautiful births tales are told here on this special episode  - Mavis Kirkham kindly gave me permission to record these excerpts from the new book Freebirth Stories. LINKS You can grab it on Amazon here, buy it at The Great British Book Shop, or ask your local indie book shop to order it in for you. And if you’d like to connect with Mavis and Nadine, the book has a Facebook page here. Get 10% off Katie's Breastfeeding & Lactation: the fundamentals online course today with code POD10...

Mavis Kirkham is Midwifery Professor Emerita at Sheffield Hallam University and has held honorary professorial positions at the University of Technology Sydney and Auckland University of Technology. After over forty years as a clinical midwife and researcher, she is interested in reflecting and writing on birth and midwifery in its wider context. A major theme of her research has been the way in which the context of their care impacts upon childbearing women and how their working experiences...

Dr Marina Weckend is a midwife and post-doctoral researcher based at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. Building on 13 years’ experience in midwifery practice, education and research in Germany, UK and Australia, Marina is committed to improving maternity care services through better understandings of birth physiology. Her current program of research focuses on natural fluctuations and pauses during labour and birth, and seeks to normalise physiological plateaus as a strategy to...

In this episode Katie talks with Rachel about late preterm and early term infants. These are the babies who have flown under the radar for far too long and often are the babies who struggle the most to get going with breastfeeding.  Come with us as we take a look at the current research, plans for feeding and what mothers are saying who have had babies born just that bit too early.  ·      How many babies are born late preterm and why the numbers are growing. ·      How late preterm infants...

Welcome to season 5!! This episode we have the marvelous Dr Sara Wickham back in the cauldron with us talking all about what’s in her new book Plus Size Pregnancy.  Sara talks to us about: ·      How women and families want, need and deserve better answers to their many questions about higher BMI and birth, and that midwives and birth workers need to know what the evidence says.  ·      Clarification of what is the BMI and as Sara says “it’s a racist, sexist, classist” index created for...

In this episode Rachel takes us into the world of ‘early labour’. She’s been promising it for a long while, and here it is. Get your lug’ols around this one!  In this episode we discuss: ·      What’s going on physiologically during this phase of childbirth ·      Beta endorphins and how they work for us during labour ·      The neocortex and what is so important about this part of our brain as we birth ·      Why women in early labour who attend the maternity unit are often sent back home · ...

Welcome to the biggest episode yet! Well not really, but we have met a milestone I couldn’t have fathomed 3 years ago on 20th July 2020.  It has hit home what has happened over this time and how this 'little' podcast has grown into something really fantastic. And this is due to my dear friend Dr Rachel Reed, our amazing guests who have so kindly donated their time to come on, and to all of you who listen in each episode and make the effort to share it, talk about it, grab a bit of merch to...

In this episode Katie talks to Zainab Yate. Zainab is a Biomedical Ethicist, with a specialist interest in infant feeding. Zainab is Vice Chair and named qualitative lead on a paediatric flagged Research Ethics Committee Panel for the Health Research Authority (HRA) in the UK.  She's also been a volunteer breastfeeding peer supporter with the NHS for a number of years, is the owner-author of the resource site for mothers and healthcare practitioners on Breastfeeding / Nursing Aversion and...

In this episode I take Rachel and you into the world of underhand marketing tactics going on right under our noses from the commercial milk formula (CMF) industry.  In Feburary 2023 the Lancet and WHO released a new 3 part series discussing the marketing of CMF. Rachel really did wonder if this would be of any interest to our listeners and I promised her that within a few minutes her knickers would be in a twist ... and they were!   This is not a discussion about whether formula milk should...

Rhea is a former PE teacher turned childbirth educator, and counsellor and feels privileged to have attended more than a thousand births in hospitals and home settings as a birth attendant as well as connecting with many more women, their partners and support people during birth preparation workshops and personal birth counselling sessions.  Rhea has spoken extensively around Australia and internationally and is the author of two books – ‘Birth with Confidence: savvy choices for normal...

On this episode of the Midwives Cauldron, it’s just me and Rachel hanging out and stirring the pot discussing vaginal examinations (VE's)! We take a step back in history to look at how midwives originally used vaginal examination during labour and for what purposeWe look at current guidelines Rachel goes on her history trail for us to find the original research which guidelines are based onWe talk about said research, the risks of vaginal examinations Language midwives could use to discuss...

Professor Donna Geddes is the director of the Geddes Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group. Based in Perth, Australia, the group is made up of innovative and dedicated scientists and students that have a passion for developing measurements of lactation and breastfeeding and then applying them to make a difference to clinicians and breastfeeding families. The group makes a point of not only publishing their findings in scientific journals but spreading their information via free online...

In this episode of the cauldron we have Dr. Sharon Blackie; award-winning writer, psychologist and mythologist. Her highly acclaimed books, lectures and workshops are focused on the development of the mythic imagination, and on the relevance of myth, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today. As well as writing five books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling If Women Rose Rooted, and her new book Hagitude, her writing...

In this episode we talk to Prof Helen Ball. Helen is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre. Helen studies infant sleep and the parent-infant sleep relationship from a biosocial perspective. Broadly defined, her research examines sleep ecology, of infants, young children and their parents. This encompasses attitudes and practices regarding infant sleep, behavioural and physiological monitoring of infants and their parents during sleep, infant sleep...

Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, and the CEO of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Psychological Trauma and was Founding Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Lactation.  Dr. Kendall-Tackett specializes in women's-health research including breastfeeding, depression, trauma, and health psychology, and has won many awards for her work including...

James Bourton is a registered midwife who works in an NHS continuity of care midwifery model within in Wales, UK. James describes himself as a home birth midwife, experienced in physiological birth, working autonomously as a practitioner with the support of a small midwifery team. James is passionate about providing women and families with individualised care that works for them in a way that they can achieve positive outcomes during pregnancy, birth and beyond. James advocates for women to...

In this episode Rachel & Katie discuss all things listening to babies during labour.  Rachel walks us through: The Herstory of listening to the baby’s heart rate during labour. The interesting and scary history of the inventer of the pinard trumpet. Rachel’s “heart beat” impression! Rachel’s ‘under water’ pinard story! We discuss pinards and doppler listening devices. #bringbackthepinnard  What is the evidence for fetal heart rate monitoring in labour. The current guidelines on...

Welcome to this episode of The Cauldron! We have the wonderful Lyndsey Hookway in the bubbling pot with us today.  Lyndsey is an experienced paediatric nurse, children’s public health nurse, IBCLC, researcher, responsive sleep/parenting advocate, and the author of 6 books. She has worked with children and families for more than 20 years within in-patient paediatrics, paediatric ambulatory care, NICU, and the community.  Lyndsey is a PhD researcher at Swansea University, exploring the needs...