It's More Than Just Milk | Jenny Wren

It's so much more

Than milk.

Like I said to auntie Pip

On the phone today.

It's soothing big feelings

And regulating your body.

It's warmth

It's love

It's protection

From all that you have been through

In your little life already.

For tantrums

For disappointments

For homesickness.

A time for growing independence

To curl up in my lap like a puppy

And look at me adoringly.

And when I stop

I'll have to learn how to be your mother

All over again.

Why Bedshare? | Jenny Wren

Why bedshare?

Babies are recommended to sleep in the same room as an adult for a minimum of six months, ideally a year, to reduce risk of Sudden Infant Death.

The presence of a breathing adult stimulates babies to breathe and promotes responsive night time parenting.

Bedsharing gives baby unlimited access to the breast which is so important for establishing and maintaining breastfeeding. Frequent waking to feed is a GOOD thing - it prevents longer sleep cycles associated with SIDS.

Dr James McKenna talks about "breastsleeping" whereby the mother and infant are perfectly in tune throughout the night and mothers have been shown to get higher quality sleep in those intervals between feedings.

It's perfectly normal and practised around the world.

Safety guidance is that the parents are sober, mum sleeps next to baby on a flat surface, no pillows or duvets and mum is breastfeeding.

Do you sleep with your babies?

Is Watching "Friends" Hypnobirthing? | Jenny Wren

In my opinion, YES.

When you are in early labour the best thing you can do is get warm and snuggly and naked under the covers and watch something funny.

I was recently asked by a client - what about "Friends"?

Perfect!

We know the series so well. For early labour to progress it's important that mama goes from her neocortex (which is her thinking brain) and into her subconscious... a process that will be triggered and aided by the familiar scripts and jokes of her favourite sitcom. The characters are predictable, they are totally SAFE.

Exactly like hypnobirthing.

Laughter produces oxytocin which will encourage the uterus to contract. Skin to skin in bed with a partner - more oxytocin. Familiarity and comfort- oxytocin.

The episodes roll one after the other, giving a sense of timelessness, which takes the focus away from clock watching which can be unhelpful and inhibit the subconscious process. You could spend a whole day "in labour" not timing contractions or counting the hours but having a duvet day! Conserving energy should be our main goal of early labour.

One of the theories of how hypnosis works is that it produces a response in people based on how they think they should be reacting to the hypnosis. So if society tells us we should be relaxed and switched off during hypnosis, we will act in that way.

Our expected societal response to watching "Friends" is to feel happy, relaxed and amused.

Therefore that is what we will be.

I cannot think of much better ways to spend the early hours of labour.

Just avoid the birth scenes 😉