The Holding Time Podcast

Hannah You’re told to go away, and buy some formula, and that’s the end

Hannah is a doctor and so her perspective on how women are treated by the health service is very reflective and she uses her experience as a health practitioner to reflect on the ways new mothers needs are not being met by both the NHS and wider. As a mother, she talks about her struggle to adjust to her birth experience and the mental health struggles she has had post partum...

Claire D I Breastfed her in Secret

Claire talks about her different experiences of establishing breastfeeding with her two children. She discovered the importance of baby groups with her first child and when the funding for the peer support mentoring in Sefton was axed, she set up Milk Drops, a new peer support service for mothers with her friend Amy...

Claire G We’re sold an idea that it’s this beautiful, natural, instinctive thing. It isn’t.

Claire explores the idea of breastfeeding as a learnt skill and talks about the confidence that comes with experience. She recalls breastfeeding her twins and, previously, an elder sibling who had silent reflux.

"Feeding one child is very, very discreet, generally. Quite often, you don’t notice unless you know what you’re looking for, you’re not going to notice...

Natalie B Having a child with a milk allergy is really, really difficult

Natalie talks about her experiences of feeding a baby with cow’s milk protein allergy and tongue tie. “I was lucky because I was able to find good support in the community & was able to learn how to use a deeper latch & how to latch her without it being too painful until I was able to get the tongue tie snipped”.

"I knew I wanted to feed her...

Vicky “I can’t do this anymore. Get the formula out”

Vicky talks about the convenience of breastfeeding vs Formula and her surprise at falling pregnant after years of Endometriosis.

“I had a couple of days I was like, Well, I can’t do this anymore. Get the formula out. Then you look at the formula. And you think no, actually like….the amount of different things to worry about there and get prepared. And actually, he’s nice and safe...

Nicola Whoa, this isn’t from breastfeeding

Nicola talks about breastfeeding with Raynaud’s and the difficulty of getting a diagnosis during lockdown.

"I had Raynaud’s. It was the cold that would cause the pain and I’d been treating myself, got a doctor to treat me for thrush for through almost a month. And it obviously wasn’t clearing because it wasn’t thrush...

Catherine I don’t want them to go through what I went through

Catherine talks about the stress of watching her 10 day old fed on a radical weight gain programme in hospital and the impact it had on her mental health long term...

Kelly It made such a difference straightaway

Kelly on breastfeeding support and dealing with tongue tie after her baby was born at Liverpool Mother and Baby Unit. Kelly began training as a midwife and would still like to support mothers. She says, ” I think that the support’s not there for women. But I don’t mean like the support services...

Amy

Amy talks about establishing breastfeeding during lockdown, post natal depression, breastfeeding support, and comparing her experiences of breast and formula feeding.

“When she got weighed she’d lost about 11.5% of her birth weight. And they were like threatening like hospital and put me on a feeding plan. It was just really, really intense. I ended up pumping, breastfeeding and giving her a top of a formula as well at the beginning...

Suzanne ‘When people tell you stuff, you assume it’s right’

Suzanne talks about the differences she has experienced growing up in Birkenhead, where breastfeeding rates are low, compared to Indonesia where she has been working and where breastfeeding is the norm...