Category Archives: Guest Blog

The Joys of Self Employment – A Guest Blog by Anna Wilk

Our guest blog comes from Anna Wilk, who offers one to one business training for Birth & Baby Professionals. Anna is a Doula and Maternity Nurse who now coaches others in the profession, on how to market themselves properly, and reach their potential.

Anna has kindly provided members with a discounted rate. (see the Members Discount Codes page)

The joys of self-employment

Attending a course and getting the assignments done is very exciting. You know there is career development ahead of you, which keeps you motivated and happy for a while. Everything feels possible.

It might mean that you will get more/extra money so you can pay off your debt, go on dream holiday or treat your family to nice things.

But, after a short while, it gets a bit tricky, like after great night out with your girlfriends when you need to wake up to reality: you need to write your profile, find agencies or places where you can advertise, figure out what to put into the contract and how much you should charge for your services.

But the real struggle hits you when you get a less than ideal client, or someone is late with payment, or when work doesn't come as easy as you would wish for. Suddenly your dream work of supporting new mums and their babies at this precious time of their lives, turn into something you never wished for, and you can only hope it will get better.

And I wish I could say like in a lovely fairy tale that it does. But it doesn't. Because as December comes, so to does tax self assessment season. It's hard to know what you can and can't claim, it takes time (that you don't have) and you're doing it half asleep wishing to wake up from this Freddie Kruger movie. How can I have worked this hard, to earn so little?

After going grey nearly overnight, I was on the edge of saying: I am done with this, I need to go back to being employed. I decided to invest in my business, refresh my MBA knowledge, learn some new things and tricks, attend some workshops and spend time with people who achieved more than me and who done it before. It paid off big time. I was back in the saddle, work coming from right and left, clients paying whatever I asked and appreciating my work and what I have to offer. My self assessment and tax bill and income were never a problem again, and most of all I enjoyed my work more than ever.

At this point, I had many other birth and baby professionals asking me for lunch to pick my brain, write their cv, look at their contracts and share with them my tips on how to market themselves.

Last year I decided to offer coaching sessions through which I help other birth and baby professionals. By sharing my knowledge I help Birth and Baby Professionals grow and nurture heart centred, rewarding and successful businesses.

There is so much to learn and understand but my main suggestions would be:

1. Get clear what you want to do.

2. Organise your work.

3. Present yourself as professionally as you can.

4. Set clear boundaries from the start.

I am very excited to be doing this work. I love seeing my coaching clients turn their business around. Taking them to the next level makes me very happy and I feel very privileged to be part of the journey of bring their dreams into reality.

If you have any questions and need help with your business, message me on link below, I am happy to help you.

http://www.annawilk.com/contact/

Anna x

GUEST BLOG!! ‘Breastfeeding Twins’ by Patricia Murray

Tricia’s top ten tips – Breastfeeding Twins

Breastfeeding twins is such a positive achievement for many families. For some, it means overcoming a number of challenges, relevant to many singletons too, yet widely prevalent in this community. There are a number of common contributing factors to breastfeeding twins as follows:

prematurity (50% born before 36 weeks)
70-80% born by c-section
learning to breastfeed, possibly for the first time, but with two different feeders
little opportunity to sleep
establishing milk supply for two babies
often encouraged to give top-up in the hospital as babies weight loss often more than 10% (due to all of above)

Many of us have managed to overcome these challenges and managed to successfully feed for many months and some years. So here’s my top tips for successfully feeding twins (these should also be used in conjunction with my general top tips for breastfeeding – available from http://nurturemeedinburgh.com/2014/05/19/tricias-top-ten-tips-for-breastfeeding/):

Feeding twins is a team effort. Partners and family support is vital. They can focus on general baby care (including skin-to-skin) and ensuring mum has got a steady supply of food and water enabling mum to fully concentrate on feeding. Mum needs lots of positive comments, encouragement and support. This will enable her to keep focussed. Partners can help researching and also can be responsible for drafting in help or taking mum to feeding clinics etc. Consider hiring someone to help you on your return home from hospital for those first few weeks.

In those first few days in the hospital, if you are on pain relief medication (such as tramadol or di-hydro-codeine) whilst recovering from a section and/or you have babies born 37/38 weeks or earlier, you might really struggle to have babies awake enough to feed. Carrying out as much skin to skin contact with mum and dad (or partner) and sleeping babies, can really help to overcome this and encourage babies to rouse enough to feed. There is no substitution for patience with this.

Top ups. One of the issues many mums have is being able to produce enough colostrum until the milk arrives. Milk usually arrives between days 2-4 (generally on day 4 for sections). However, in the meantime babies are losing weight. Whilst this is normal, if babies lose more than 10% of their body weight a schedule of 3 hourly feeds with babies topped up with expressed colostrum in addition to feeding will be started by the hospital. This whole process can take up to two hours (feed one baby, express, give expressed colostrum/milk/formula and then repeat) leaving very little room to sleep in between the three hour schedule (this really brought me to my knees). In my opinion, this is the biggest challenges for breastfeeding twin mums – it is an exhausting process. It can be difficult then to remove this need for top ups or for mums to believe they can produce enough for a feed. Top ups should be seen (in the majority of cases but not all) as a short term fix until mums are producing enough milk.

Building up a milk supply. There is no substitute for a well-attached breastfeeding baby to build up a good milk supply. Encourage frequent feeds (skin-to-skin will help). Let babies feed for as long as they want – the range for new babies can be 20 minutes to 100 minutes – don’t feel you need to remove them after a specific time (unless YOU want to). Middle of the night feeding is essential as this is when your prolactin is highest. If you want to encourage more milk, express for 10 minutes after a feed on each breast. Hire a hospital breast pump or dual pump as they are better and quicker letting you try to rest more in between feeds. There are also supplements such as fenugreek seeds, brewer’s yeast and lots of lovely herbal breastfeeding teas that can help.

Learn to feed each baby as an individual. For those first few days, learning how eachsian breastfeeding baby feeds is important. If you are a first time mum, you yourself are also learning about feeding and what is good attachment, how to be comfortable, and getting the babies positioning right. Don’t rush this stage to move onto tandem feeding as if feeding isn’t going well, you might feel that you’re taking a backwards step.

Adapted feeding on demand. Whilst with one baby, feeding on demand is essential, with twins it’s also essential that mum can optimise rest time. Therefore, mums should try to feed one baby after the other for the first few days/weeks and then if possible, tandem feed the babies so mum can optimise rest time in between feeds.

Tandem feeding. Tandem feeding is the ideal for feeding twins as it means that you can synch up your babies into the same pattern of feeds and sleeps meaning more rest time for mum which is vital. There are a number of positions – available in this handout from the multiple births foundation - http://www.multiplebirths.org.uk/MBFParentsFeedingGuideFINALVERSION.pdf. Many mums find a breastfeeding cushion can really help as it’s tilted meaning babies naturally roll towards you. Popular brands are EZ 2 Nurse Twin feeding pillow or Harmony Duo feeding pillow. Pillows don’t suit every breast shape and size, so bear that in mind that you might need to look at other options. Pillows are definitely suited towards larger breasted woman, whereas smaller breasted woman might prefer other positions. Keep experimenting until you find a position that suits you. For some mums, tandem feeding doesn’t work and you should very much feel that you can choose to feed one at a time. For some, they really enjoy that one to one time.

Swapping breasts? For the first few weeks, swapping breasts between feeds is the ideal. You may even want to consider swapping breasts half way through feeds when you’re tandem feeding as it might help if you have a stronger feeder to increase your milk supply. However, you might also decide to eventually allocate one breast to one baby. I eventually did this as I found one preferred one side. It also meant if I wanted to to give an extra in between feed, I could without thinking I was stealing milk from the “other’s” breast. You can end up a bit lop sided (just a little bit!). This is a very individual choice and there isn’t one right answer.

Get support – find out what local support there is. In Edinburgh and the Lothians, the Edinburgh and Lothians Twins and Multiples Club have a peer support system where one of our peer supporters will come to see you in your home. In addition, we run a weekly feeding support group (in my home). We also have an active facebook community where mums get lots of support. TAMBA has a breastfeeding information line if you’re in other parts of the UK (http://www.tamba.org.uk/support/Breastfeeding-Peer-Supporter-Scheme). There are lots of places to get help from like local breastfeeding clinics, cafes and the La Leche League branches. The issue that I found with these, is they just weren’t suited as a place to go with two babies and try to sit comfortably with two babies which is why we set up the feeding support in Edinburgh.

Look after yourself. It cannot be strongly emphasised enough how important it is to look after yourself. Mums need to be rested, fed and well hydrated. Physical needs such as being able to look after their recovering bodies is vital too – so time to have a bath, shower and feel clean. Self care is essential when caring for newborn twins.

There are so many more things I could go on and on about – I love talking twins and feeding…. but these are the TOP tips…..

I loved feeding my twins (well once we managed to get it established). I fed mine until they were 13 months. I had a number of issues with cracked, blistered, bleeding nipples but so thankful to an NCT counsellor who came to my home and spent time making minor changes to my positioning. And whilst there were so many tears over it, and challenges to overcome, I would love to have that opportunity to have one more middle of the night quiet feed with my two boys. I’m also so sad I have no pictures of me feeding – so advice to any twin mum – get lots of pictures taken of your achievement!!

If you need help with breastfeeding, with any number of babies, NurtureMe offer’s breastfeeding support as well as general postnatal care for those first few weeks helping with each feed. It will help to get breastfeeding off to the best start.

Much love, Tricia xxxxx

Become a Sleep Angel with Jo Tantum

Jo Tantum - Author of 'Baby Secrets' is one of the UK's leading sleep experts for babies and toddlers.

Widely published in leading baby magazines, and prominent newspapers all over the world, Jo has also been part of many TV shows, including being the Baby Expert on Live with Gabby, spending a week with Doctor Hilary as a presenter on GMTV for Twins week, as an expert on ITV’S 'Baby House' and also on 'Richard and Judy' talking about her spaced soothing technique.

Jo is also donating an hour of her time for our December competition!

In February this year, Jo launched her Sleep Angels and Sleep Workshop Training Programmes. Throughout the training Jo reveals all her secrets and techniques, so that course graduates can feel confident in helping Sleep deprived parents in their area.

If you would like to learn Jo's techniques and Secrets , and help sleep deprived parents everywhere, why not become one of Jo's Sleep Angels Team. Training can also lead to exciting work opportunities.

The next Training Programme starts January 31st, there will be a meet and greet with Jo in London on the 19th December 1-4pm in Merino Kids (151 Northcote Road, SW11 6QB) a short walk from Clapham Junction station.

For more details contact- HelenPA@JoTantum.com

GUEST BLOG!! How to tap into the ‘Mind-Body Connection’ to have a great birth. by Paola Bagnall

Giving birth should be a straightforward, wonderful and magical experience.

By using the mind-body connection it is possible to achieve this.

The dictionary definition of the ‘mind-body connection’ is the taking into account the physiological, psychic and spiritual connections between the state of the body and that of the mind.

The idea that our minds and emotions play a critical role in our health is far from new. Many ancient healing systems emphasise the interconnection between mind and body in healing, including Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, who taught that good health depends on a balance of mind, body, and environment. This is also true for a good birth.

We all have an innate power in our unconscious minds to change the way we think. By choosing to think differently then we actually change our brain chemistry so we release serotonins, the happy hormone, as I call it, as opposed to adrenalin. Serotonins make us feel good and help the body to heal and deal with pain. When one feels fear adrenalin is produced in large quantities and the more fear one feels then the more adrenalin is produced. Deepak Chopra states, “To think is to practise brain chemistry”. So thinking relaxing thoughts changes your brain chemistry and creates a good mind-body connection.

The late Dr Grantley Dick-Read (1890 – 1959) visited a woman giving birth at her home in Whitechapel in London. She declined his offer of chloroform, and gave birth without undue problem. After the delivery, he asked her why she did not want chloroform and she replied, “It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t meant to, was it?” Dr Dick-Reid actually said then that relaxation is the key to a good birth and in his book, Childbirth without Fear published in 1942; he returned to women their rightful gift of a truly natural birth.

There are several ways in which we can connect to our unconscious minds to change our thinking, thereby keeping us relaxed and so help the release of serotonins in order to have a good birth experience.

A very easy way to counteract the adrenalin production is to concentrate on your breathing as this automatically reduces its flow. This in turn causes the release of serotonins. There are two simple breathing techniques, which can be used -

Breathing technique one: -

Breathe in to a count of 4.

Breathe out to a count of 6.

Repeat this as many times as required, and at least fifteen times.

This sends a signal to the unconscious mind to reduce the adrenalin flow. In this way you are always in control in any situation and especially during the birth of your baby.

Breathing technique two: -

The programme for three deeper breaths

Breath 1 brings instant mental calmness.

As you breathe out SAY to yourself “I am calm”.

Breath 2 brings instant feelings of physical relaxation.

As you breathe out SAY to yourself “I am relaxed”.

Breath 3 brings instant feelings of confidence.

As you breathe out SAY to yourself “I am confident”

“I can do ………..”.

This technique can be used whenever you want instant feelings of calmness, relaxation and confidence. Using the breath reduces the adrenalin flow so creating the calmness and relaxation. I find it easier to say a few words after each breath as it keeps me focussed on what I am doing. The suggestions for the phrases are as above.

This breathing programme can be used in any situation where more calmness, relaxation and confidence are required so it is not just for being pregnant or for the birth of the baby. It can be used at work, rest or play!

At breath three your are using positive affirmations. An affirmation is anything you say or think and this affects your unconscious mind. Your thinking in fact, determines all things. Think negatively and you attract negative realities. Think positively and the benefits you desire in life will come true. When we say something over and over again, we create neural connections in the brain. The more we say it, the more connections we create and the stronger they become, bringing about the reality we desire. There are 3 things to remember about affirmations, 1. Repetition, 2. Repetition, 3. Repetition. The mind not only affects the brain it also affects our body at a cellular level by causing the production of different chemicals. This is so important in healing and pain control and to have a great birth.

State the affirmation in the present tense, as if it is happening now, and state what you want to happen. For pregnancy and birth the list of affirmations is endless:

“I enjoy my pregnancy”

“My digestive system works efficiently and effectively”

“My digestive system is more and more comfortable” (to overcome early morning sickness)

“I look forward to the birth with excitement”

“I have a wonderfully natural childbirth”

“I heal up easily after the birth”

“I breastfeed easily”

“I enjoy being a mum”

“I am a great mum”

“I trust my instincts and intuition”

Use your imagination and you can make up as many affirmations as you wish.

Emile Coué (1857-1926) put forward the 'Law of Concentrated Attention’, which states, “Whenever attention is concentrated on an idea over and over again, it spontaneously tends to realise it.”

Therefore keep on saying your affirmations and they will spontaneously happen for you. The more you say the affirmations, and with feeling, the faster the changes. Build them into your daily routine perhaps repeating them ten times morning and evening.

Use the programme for the three deeper breaths whenever you can to reinforce how you want to feel, and be, during your pregnancy and during the birth.

This programme, along with positive affirmations, can also be used to help you deal with a work situation effectively, or to improve your sport performance and to improve relationships with family, friends and work colleagues. Its uses are infinite!

Positive affirmations also link up with “The Law of Attraction” which states that what you put into the universe is reflected back to you. So radiate positivity and calmness and that is what you get back, especially during pregnancy and childbirth.

Another way to link into our unconscious minds in order to modify our thinking is by the use of Guided imagery or visualisation, which utilises the power of imagination to heal. This has been shown to reduce anxiety and pain in people with a wide range of medical conditions, including asthma, back pain, headache, to help patients better tolerate medical procedures and treatments and of course to create a wonderful birth experience.

Visualisation, or imagery, utilises the natural language of the unconscious mind to help you connect with the deeper resources, the inner power we all have, to make the changes you desire. When you visualise what you want to have happen then the unconscious mind actualises this. As Bo Bennett aptly states “Visualisation is daydreaming with purpose”. Visualising and positive affirmations are also forms of self-hypnosis, which I teach as part of my Inner Power Hypnobirthing.

My relaxation allows you to choose a place where you can truly, deeply relax and unwind. It also allows you to choose a colour of relaxation that is right for you. This relaxation, which is self-hypnosis, is to be practised as often as possible before the baby’s due date, preferably daily. Then when you are having contractions you can take yourself to your special place and really be there. Or use your colour of relaxation flowing over you so you remain in control of your baby’s birth and can work with your body and intuitively know what to do. When you are daydreaming like this then you are able to dissociate from the ‘feelings’ of the contractions.

The reason why visualisation is so effective is because the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and unreal! So when you are imagining being in your favourite place then your unconscious mind really thinks you are there and responds by secreting lots of serotonins (the happy hormone) so you feel good about yourself. When you use this relaxation technique during the birth process then you are producing a natural epidural to cope with the contractions.

As well as being in a special place you can also visualise your perfect birth happening in just the way you want it to. Do this on a daily basis up until the birth.

Visualisation can be used in any situation and not just for the pregnancy and birth. It can be used to ‘see’ you giving the perfect presentation or improving your piano playing or succeeding at performing well at an interview and getting the job you really want.

David R Hamilton states that “Our thoughts and attitudes inspire our actions, and our actions create our world”. In conclusion the mind-body connection is achieved by our thinking, which modifies our brain chemistry. When we have relaxed thoughts we cannot feel fear. So to create the perfect mind-body connection in order to have a wonderfully natural birth as nature intended we simply have to practise special breathing techniques, positive affirmations and use visualisation, all of which are part of self-hypnosis and hypnobirthing.

Please see more details about Paola in her members profile, or in the writers profile below, including her website, where there are downloads available, and a link for her book.

GUEST BLOG!! How hypnobirthing makes the contractions easier. By Paola Bagnall

Hypnobirthing is the use of hypnosis to have a magical birth experience as nature intended.

Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation with altered awareness.

Being in a relaxed state reduces the ‘panic’ hormone adrenalin and increases the ‘happy’ hormone serotonin, which makes us feel good about ourselves. In this way we are better able to cope with the fear of the unknown, and any pain as a result of the contractions.

Adrenalin produces dramatic changes in the body in response to fear, shock or stress. It causes the rapid preparation of the body for swift action and so is also called the ‘fright, fight and flight’ hormone. Adrenalin causes an increase in the rate of the heart beat and heart output, the ventilation rate, constriction of small blood vessels in the skin and abdomen, so more blood circulates to the skeletal muscles, taking more oxygen and sugars. The general effect is that the whole body is ready for vigorous action, which might be necessary in an emergency.

As the blood is taken away from the digestive system so more goes to the muscles creating the ‘butterflies in the tummy’ effect. In extreme cases this can cause the voiding of the bladder and bowels.

This state of tension cannot be tolerated for long periods and usually other hormones destroy the adrenalin. When one feels fear adrenalin is produced in large quantities and the more fear one feels then the more adrenalin is produced.

Everyone deals with pain differently. When one experiences pain you have the actual organic pain itself, but you also have your psychological awareness of that pain, which is your pain threshold, and you have your own personality reaction to the pain, which is how much you think it will hurt.

Women are constantly bombarded with negative stories about childbirth. As soon as they tell people they are pregnant they are told that it is the most painful thing they will ever do in their lives. This is in fact negative hypnosis and so people believe that childbirth is painful and expect it to be so. TV programmes like ‘One Born Every Minute’ in the UK, emphasise the ‘pain’ and fear of birth, as the producers have to show births that are dramatic to increase viewing numbers.

However, in my opinion the birth contractions are not painful. They are a strong pressure. If you think ‘pain’ then ‘pain’ is what you will get. By thinking of contractions, rather than ‘pains’, this straight away alters your perception of the birth process.

There are four levels of pain control. The first one is to remove the biggest obstacle, FEAR, that is letting your intellect start imagining all sorts of things that could happen. Fear inhibits two important abilities we have, of concentration and relaxation. So fear becomes pain. The fears usually associated with pain are the fear of making it worse, fear of the unknown and what is going to happen.

The second level of pain control is achieved by generating trust and belief in the hypnotic process and in the ability of your body to deal with the pain. Know that your body makes its own pain killing drugs, by the release of serotonins which are released in a very site-specific way in the brain so that all the other vital systems and functions of the body continue. This is how nature intended pain control. Have you ever noticed a bruise on yourself and cannot remember how it happened?

Once your brain has been freed from fear then you can focus your intellect and concentration on the present moment. So the third level of pain control is to engage in the use of progressive relaxation. Relaxation is the most important key to successful pain control and healing.

This then leads to the fourth level of pain control, which is the process of dissociation through self-hypnosis. In hypnosis one is in the alpha-theta brain wave pattern with an altered sense of awareness. In this state the unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and unreal. So when in hypnosis you are relaxed and in control, and the levels of adrenalin produced by fear and pain is maintained at low levels. In this way relaxation and self-hypnosis make the contractions much easier to cope with.

Relaxation produces effects at a cellular level. It produces the hormone oxytocin, which not only protects the body from heart disease but it also plays a significant role in the regeneration of wounds. Relaxation also produces anti-oxidants, which soak up the free radicals, which can also cause heart disease. Thus all relaxation techniques, and self-hypnosis, are beneficial to the body, whether pregnant or not.

Oxytocin is the hormone involved in birth, bonding with your baby and also in breastfeeding. By learning the hypnobirthing techniques you learn how to relax at a deep level, so you work with your body and intuition, and are able to dissociate from the feeling of the contractions. For many women this does mean that they may have a pain free childbirth. We all have different pain thresholds and so hypnobirthing cannot guarantee a completely pain free birth for everyone. However, what hypnobirthing does is to give you the best birth possible for you so having your baby is an empowering, magical experience, as nature intended.

There are several methods of hypnobirthing. I am a biologist and a hypnotherapist. The Inner Power Hypnobirthing starts with a biology lesson so you know what is happening in the body and understand that the female body is in fact beautifully designed to give birth. You learn special breathing techniques to maintain calmness, positive affirmations, visualisation, the use of colour for relaxation and healing and of course self-hypnosis which is created by using all these techniques. In this way you are able to flood your body with serotonins, a morphine based hormone during the birth process, which is your body’s natural epidural. Thus the adrenalin levels stay low. When you are relaxed you cannot feel fear, and the ‘pain’ of the contractions is considerably lessened.

Therefore giving birth becomes a truly memorable, exciting experience.

Please see more details about Paola in her members profile, or in the writers profile below, including her website, where there are downloads available, and a link for her book.