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...

This episode is all about assessment of labour as we interview Dr Clare Davison.  Clare is a midwife, academic and feminist. Clare is passionate about promoting and supporting physiological birth and working with women so that they can be empowered in their birth choices. Clare combines these passions by working as an independent midwife, providing holistic continuity of care to women; and as an academic teaching and hoping to inspire the next generation of midwives. We delve into those...

It’s season 4 and to kick us off you have me and Rachel chewing the fat on all things breastfeeding and lactation. In this episode, we delve in to look at what is going on with in-hospital formula milk supplementation for breastfed infants. We ask why the supplementation rates are so high, and discuss it’s impact on breastfeeding, and lactation physiology. We talk about teat/bottle confusion, the best ways to give extra feeds and the acceptable medical reasons for this. We discuss why...

Thank you to all of you who joined us in season 3, it has been epically wonderful! We are off for a little summer/winter break, but stay tuned as we will be back with some awesome new and exciting offerings for your lugg'ols and eyeballs! Listen in to the trailer to hear more. Until then you can find lots more  below. LINKS: Rachel Reed -courses, books, blog, etc Buy us a coffee to keep the caffeine flowing   Support the show

In this episode we talk to Anita Moorhead about all things antenatal hand expression. Anita is a Clinical Nurse/Midwife Consultant (for Lactation), at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, a coordinator for the DAME (Diabetes and Antenatal Milk Expressing) trial and PhD candidate at the Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University, Australia. Anita has collaborated on breastfeeding papers and reports, hospital, and state clinical guidelines and is a frequent presenter at national and...

In this episode we interview Ellie Young. Ellie is an Australian edge-dwelling registered midwife, qualitative researcher and writer. She has worked with women and families for over 15 years within the permaculture and traditional nutrition space whilst supporting women choosing to give birth outside the system. After midwifery training, Ellie went back to attending homebirth within her community, whilst undertaking a research study on women's experience of the transition phase of...

In this episode we have Dr Hazel Keedle and we are talking all things VBAC, vaginal birth after caesarean! Hazel is a lecturer of midwifery at Western Sydney University, Australia. Hazel has worked in midwifery group practices, an aboriginal medical service, a variety of hospital settings and as a privately practising midwife in both city and regional locations.  Hazel’s passion for VBAC followed her own experience of having a VBAC with her daughter in 2008 and since then has published...

In this episode we have Professor Helen O'Connell and we are talking all things clitoris! Professor O'Connell was elected Vice -President of USANZ in 2021. She was the first female Urologist in Australia and New Zealand, completing training in Melbourne in 1993 followed by a Fellowship in Female and Functional Urology in Houston, USA in 1994-5. Her doctoral studies in female pelvic anatomy have achieved international renown leading to significant conceptual changes in both medical and lay...

In this episode we have the fabulous Kemi Johnson on to chat with us. Kemi is a mother, birthkeeper in the birthroom, birth educator and birth activist. Formerly an independent midwife, registered in the UK she is now freely following her calling to facilitate healthy ecstatic births for mothers, and their babies. We chat with Kemi about home birth, free-birth, and why the reported outcomes can often be misunderstood. We look at induction, and childbirth outcomes, time frames in birth, as...

In this episode, we answer your questions! We take a dive into, inverted nipples and what you can do during pregnancy and with breastfeeding. Answer whether vaginal examinations are necessary during pregnancy, why milk teeth are called milk teeth, look into informed non-consent in the hospital setting, and discuss declining interventions during labour & birth. We delve into the ethics and copyright of how to share information. Whether you can or should breastfeed whilst pregnant, how...

In this episode in the cauldron, we have Pippa Grace, the author of Mother in the mother.  Pippa is a socially engaged artist, writer, and sculptor. Her work brings together over 26 years of training and working in the worlds of holistic health, bodywork, dance, creative writing, film, and sculpture.   Pippa facilitates the sharing of stories and the creation of ‘visual narratives’ at beautifully held workshops. Pippa is particularly interested in helping to give voice to the quiet, everyday...

In this episode come with us on a journey into the land of kangaroos... only kidding we are talking about kangaroo mother care and skin-to-skin contact. You may think this is a topic you may know everything about but before you switch off I recommend listening in. Look, even Rachel learned stuff she didn't know, and she was the one in our planning meeting who said "what a whole hour on skin to skin?"! So, yes folks, here is a whole podcast on Katie's favourite topic. We find out what the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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 supplyBreast refusalRe-building milk supplyDonor milkNipple teat confusionBreast reduction surgeryThe top up trapMedications that could affect milk supplyWitching 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....

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...

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 -...