Childbirth Educator

It doesn't happen often, but I'm pretty much speechless! This was seen in Staten Island, New York by a colleague in a support group.

Highly recommend following sarawickham.com. Thank you Sara!

💛 Preparing for birth is just the first step in the incredible adventure of motherhood. It’s like prepping for a wedding – full of excitement, nerves, and anticipation. We meticulously plan every detail, from where we’re going to birth, who will be our support people, attending childbirth education to drafting a meticulous birth plan.

But let’s not forget, just like a marriage, the real magic and profound transfornation happens in the days, weeks, and years that follow. 💖 Postpartum is where the real work, growth, and beauty unfold. It’s the sleepless nights intertwined with moments of pure bliss as you hold your newborn in your arms. It’s navigating the highs and lows of breastfeeding, soothing, and discovering the profound strength within yourself. It’s also discovering how your relationship with your partner will evolve and change into becoming parents and how you will make time for each other amongst all of this. Not forgetting that your mental and emotional health in the postpartum needs to be taken into consideration as well and planning who will be your support when you need it most is vital in your preparation.

But in the whirlwind of sleepless nights, diapers, feedings, and endless cuddles, you’ll find a love deeper than you ever imagined. You’ll witness your body’s incredible resilience and your spirit’s unwavering determination. And amidst the chaos, you’ll discover a newfound sense of purpose and fulfillment.
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The right kind of birth prep should help you do both!

A continuum is a circle or cycle with no definitive beginning or end. Every point on the continuum, or within the circle, informs and affects every point, or person, on the continuum, or within the circle.

Sitting in community, in a circle-style gathering and on a regular basis, can give us the opportunity to feel seen and heard, to practice non-judgement and listening deeply, and how to hold space for ourselves and others.

Sitting in circle can help us to develop empathy for ourselves and others, discover our strengths and superpowers, connect with our intuition, and develop our inner knowing.

This style of gathering can also help us to nurture healthy relationships, build trust, and develop and nurture our communities. Circles can be open to whatever is present, focused on a specific topic or event, or a mixture of both. Warm, nurturing, embracing, honest.

Imagine the changes we would feel in the world, and how our houses of tomorrow would look, if we supported our sons and daughters, neices, nephews, neighbours and friends to gather this way from childhood.

Can we normalise this way of gathering for our kids? For the future guardians of our planet.

Because it can’t be said often enough.

A woman's birth decisions and experiences are nobody's business but her own.

Every woman has the right to make the decisions that are right for her and her baby.

No matter whether that's to do with where she gives birth, who she has with her or what she wants going on around that.

We need to ensure that ALL birth decisions are respected and that no-one is hassled, shamed, coerced or bullied about pregnancy and birth decisions.

Before, during OR afterwards.

For loads more information to help you understand more about maternity care, the different approaches and tips and tools to help you make the decisions that are right for you, see my book, "What's Right For Me: making decisions in pregnancy and childbirth."

You can read more about it at https://www.sarawickham.com/me

First moon: witnessing the rite of passage from childhood into womanhood

My eldest daughter recently experienced her first menstrual bleed. We've been talking about it and preparing for it for a long time. She was impatient to experience it and excited when it came.

She took 2 days off school, and I took time to nurture her, spend extra time with her, and love her even more than usual. My intention was for her to experience receiving and to know that life doesn't necessarily have to carry on as usual when you bleed. I have my postpartum midwifery training to thank for this alternative reality 🙌

After telling me and then her Dad, she wanted to share with her Grandmothers and then one of her best friends who has also started bleeding, so that they could compare notes 💜

I wanted to have a bigger ceremony to celebrate this epic rite of passage, but she wasn't open to it right now.

So I had a small and meaningful ceremony of my own, and also bought both of us rings from one of my closest friend's ethical jewellery company . My daughter is wearing her 'moon and back' ring in this capture ✨️

Sharing......

Shared by the iconic for all those who may be supporting pregnant women in times of emergency and crisis.

Our bodies are made to have babies, and with some simple knowledge and skills, we can help to make sure that birthing women and new babies are safe and optimally cared for, even in times of emergency.

Please share far and wide.

Highly recommend this workshop series.

'Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss Workshop Series'

A diverse and increasing body of evidence, led by the stories of women, tells us that we can do much better at supporting women during all stages of a pregnancy loss journey, and through ALL kinds of pregnancy loss.

As friends, partners, neighbours, community members, paramedics, emergency room staff, midwives & nurses, obstetricians, GP receptionists, yoga teachers, school teachers, playgroup leaders, massage therapists and doulas, as a society, we can all do better.

Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss is a 5 hour workshop series aimed at anyone who works with, or shares space with women during the childbearing continuum and feels called to be better able to care for and support women and families during any kind of pregnancy loss, stillbirth or infant death from a truly holistic perspective.

I am a women's health nurse specialist, a teacher with and a certified postpartum care practitioner with . I would be honoured if you chose to study with me.

Visit the Linktree in my bio or my website for further information and booking:

www.thetomorrowhouse.com

My website is finally live!

www.thetomorrowhouse.com

I recommend taking a look at sarawickham.com and her books to my clients.
And others!

Some people will tell you about research showing that induction of labour (IOL) decreases the chance of caesarean.

But real world data and many other studies show that induction INCREASES the chance of caesarean.

(Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one, if it’s right for you. This is information, not judgement. You do you.)

Lewis et al (2022) published a retrospective cohort study of 1528 healthy women who were having their first baby.

This kind of study shows what happens in the real world, not when you randomise types of care.

“Elective IOL [induction of labour] was not associated with lower cesarean rates in this study.

Further research is needed before implementing clinical practice changes that encourage more use of IOL.” Lewis et al (2022).

You can see the study at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jmwh.13313

Why do real world data and the results of studies like this show different results to some of the trials?

It's partly because of the approach taken, which we can see in Lewis et al’s study.

This included women cared for by the ARRIVE trial approach and the noninterventive Reducing Primary Cesareans approach.

Caesarean isn’t something that happens naturally to some people and not others (like being born with blue or brown eyes or a male or female body).

It’s the result of a decision made by a human.

Where you have practitioners who feel more comfortable with intervention than with female bodies doing their thing, you see more intervention.

It's more about the beliefs of the person recommending surgery than the capability of the mother’s body.

We know from lots of other studies that intervention doesn’t lead to better outcomes, but that’s another story...

If you’d like to better understand the research relating to induction, take a look at my newest book, “In Your Own Time: how western medicine controls the start of labour and why this needs to stop.”

www.sarawickham.com/time

I was talking about exactly this at one of my bespoke sessions this morning.

And a respectful reminder to ask for, and accept, help so you can do this.

Slow down ..... breathe your new baby in. There is no rush. Things will change soon enough and all things will pass.

Slow living teaches us to move at the tempo of life. The postpartum weeks are a period when you get to meet your baby where they reside, the present moment.

Don't rush ... life is sweeter when you slow down ....

I recommend checking sarawickham.com to my clients.

It's time for our regular reminder that we have a free, monthly newsletter for anyone who would like to have new birth-related research and thinking flown into their email inbox each month.

It's called the Birth Information Update and it's for people who would like to stay up-to-date with birth-related research and thinking.

Our emails are written for midwives and birth folk, by Dr Sara Wickham.

They are packed with links to the most interesting and useful birth-related research and thinking that I’ve spotted over the past month.

I also add a bit of chat, links to my best blog posts and, most months, I also pick one study to look at a bit more closely.

Some of the info isn’t available anywhere else.

If you’re not on our mailing list but would like to be, pop to www.sarawickham.com and type your email address into the blue box.

There's also a link in our bio, or you can visit www.tinyurl.com/saranews

Our newsletter folks also get advance knowledge of books, courses and events that I’m involved with.

So if you'd like to get updated with less effort, fly on over and sign up now!

Thank you for all your good work Sarah, sharing........

What are the best questions to ask if you're offered induction of labour?

As a midwife who has researched and written about induction of labour for more than two decades, I get asked that quite a bit.

Especially as I have a fundamental belief that there is no one 'right' path for everyone.

Twenty years before anyone hashtagged , I was promoting that very idea to women and families.

One size doesn't fit all.

You need to decide what's right for you.

And in order to do that, you might need to ask some questions.

So I have put together this guide to the five best questions that you can ask in order to get more information and make the decisions that are right for you.

I'm also going to tell you what can you learn from the answers you are given.

You can find my blog post at https://www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/five-questions-to-ask-if-youre-offered-induction-of-labour/

There's a link to my website in my insta bio as well.

I hope you'll find it useful.

Sharing.....
My son-in-law has been very open and honest about his feelings post birth and asked me to add a session especially for husbands/partners. I offer either one to one or small groups.

Supporting new fathers' mental health From the outside people might think that being a father is the 'easier job'. After all you weren't pregnant, or the one giving birth, or breastfeeding your baby. Why would you be the one to struggle?

I'm in Rome this weekend and took this photo in St Peter's Basilica. Such a shame I couldn't get closer but hopefully you can zoom in.

I highly recommend a visit to sarawickham.com and her books.

My website contains more than 500 pages of content, including blog posts, summaries and analysis of research, tips, and the full text of most of the 200 articles that I have written and published over the 25 years that I have been writing about midwifery and birth.

You'll find information hubs on more than 20 topics, including induction, vitamin K, Anti-D, GBS and birthing the placenta.

There are details of all my books, and some excerpts as well, so you can read before you buy.

And while you're there, you can sign up for my free newsletter, which means you'll get my free, monthly Birth Information Update delivered straight to your inbox.

Find me online at www.sarawickham.com

And share the good news with your friends, colleagues and pregnant - or hoping-to-be-pregnant loved ones.

What if we really revered the postpartum woman?
What if we took it slow with her?
Shared her tears and laughter
Cooked her nourishing food
Watched and marvelled in the glow of a cherished woman who has just birthed the next star in the universe
What if she handed over her chores and not her baby to the many eager friends?
What if we wove webs of soft love around her?
Pots of fresh tea and new sheets crisp and clean off wind beaten lines
Ice packs and cabbage leaves and tissues waiting
Moments captured forever, languid and drunk with love
What families would emerge?
What children would shoulder their way into adulthood?
What would the world look like if we treated new mothers as goddesses? 🌹

Sharing, thank you sarawickham.com

It doesn't matter whether you're human, cat or cottontail; you are designed to grow, birth, feed and protect your babies.

And yes, that protection includes having the right to ask for information and make your own decisions about what's right for you and your baby.

I'm not saying that you should decline everything.

(Unless that's truly the right decision for you.)

We're all very grateful for modern medicine and technology when things are going awry.

But that doesn't mean that the standard, modern, routine approach is right for every body, every time.

Everyone's different, and you might not want 'one size fits all' care.

And that's okay.

It's your body and your baby and that means that ALL the decisions are yours to make.

If you'd like to know more, or to better understand some of the wider issues around making decisions in pregnancy and childbirth, take a look at my website, www.sarawickham.com

I also have a book which has been helping women and families with decision making for twenty years.

It's called "What's Right For Me? Making decisions in pregnancy and childbirth."

It helps women, parents and families to better understand how modern maternity care works and how you can make the decisions that are right for you.

Loads more information at www.sarawickham.com/wrfm

I'm planning to resume live classes soon and really looking forward to it. I would appreciate your comments as to how you search/searched for Childbirth Education/Preparing for Labour & Birth/Breastfeeding classes and where you looked? Thank you so much!

Sharing, thank you LLL.

Inspiring, supporting and connecting breastfeeding families worldwide! Read the new issue of : https://www.llli.org/breastfeeding-today/
Many thanks to Valentina Attanasio, our managing editor, and all the dedicated volunteer team who have done a great job over the past two years 💙🧡💚
[Image description: cover of Breastfeeding Today has a photo of a mother nursing her baby with older child by her side.]

Thank you sarawickham.com

There are lots of reasons to opt for a home birth.

We know from research studies that home birth is both safe and satisfying, that it leads to fewer interventions, a higher chance of breastfeeding success, and helps to make confident parents.

A 2021 study from the USA showed that it is also far more cost effective than hospital birth.

Anderson and Gilkison (2021) set out to estimate the cost of home birth in the USA and found that:

“On the basis of a nationwide study, we estimate that the average cost of a home birth in the United States is USD 4650, which is significantly below existing cost estimates for an uncomplicated birth center or hospital birth.”

“Further, we find that each shift of one percent of births from hospitals to homes would represent an annual cost savings to society of at least USD 321 million.”

No, it’s not just about money.

But it makes you think.

Study details: Anderson, D.A.; Gilkison, G.M. The Cost of Home Birth in the United States. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 10361. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910361

The paper is freely available at https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10361

If you’d like more information about home birth, and to see the evidence for its safety and the other things mentioned above, see https://www.sarawickham.com/research-updates/is_home_birth_safe/

Sharing .........

We now know that it is better to allow a baby time to regulate its own blood volume and take the blood that it needs from the placenta after birth.
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Early cord clamping can lead to increased rates of anaemia and decreased neurological (brain) development.
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It is crucial that a baby is allowed to complete their own transition to optimal condition outside the uterus without any interference from cord clamping.
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But not all babies are equal and some will need more time than others. Each baby’s transition from intrauterine life to extrauterine life is a very individual process.
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For this reason, it is not always helpful to use arbitrary time limits to determine how long to wait before clamping and cutting the cord.
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Unless there is a problem (such as a tear in the cord or the mother is bleeding heavily), it may be better to watch the condition of the baby than to use arbitrary time limits.
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People may find it helpful to use the phrase “wait for white” to describe how the cord looks white and floppy once the transition is complete and the baby has adjusted to life outside the womb.
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This post has been created by Amanda Burleigh and Sara Wickham
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For references and evidence-based information on optimal cord clamping, placental birth and related issues, please see www.waitforwhite.com and www.sarawickham.com
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You may also enjoy the “Optimal Cord Clamping/ ” page and “Birthing Your Placenta” by Nadine Edwards and Sara Wickham.

Sharing........congratulations!

🙌🏻 We’re delighted to announce that our Newborn Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital has achieved full UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Accreditation 🙌🏻

Gillian Denton, our Neonatal Feeding Lead at OUH, said: “We are delighted to have achieved full accreditation. It has been three years in the making and is awarded to organisations that demonstrate excellence in supporting infant feeding and -parent-infant relationships.

"Supporting mothers to provide breast milk and go on to breastfeed their babies who are born prematurely and/or sick is vital for the long-term health outcomes of the babies that are admitted to our unit. By enabling parents to be with their babies as much as possible and support them to form a close and loving relationship with their baby is such a privilege."

The unit received their award last month at a virtual awards ceremony – there may not have been quite the glitz of an in-person party, but they’re still incredibly proud – congratulations!

Sharing.....

We're delighted to support this interesting research project on where babies sleep. Please share!
https://brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6YfKu8taX27WiI6

[Image: Abbi Moise's head and shoulders. Text: Hello, I'm reaching out to all new parents! My name is Abbi Moise, and I am a finall year Midwifery student at Oxford Brookes. For my Masters dissertation I am undertaking reserach to find out where babies up to 6 months of age are sleeping at night, and what influences this. Currently in the UK, there is very little known about where babies sleep at night, and so I am interested in gathering information from parents to find out where babies fall asleep at night, and why this might be! If you're interested in participating and sharing your experiences for my research please click on the link below which will take you to further information and the survey itself. It should only take you 5-10 minutes. https://brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6YfKu8taX27WiI6]