My Expert Midwife
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How can I relieve pain when breastfeeding?
Read more →When My Expert Midwife were developing the product range we knew that developing a nipple balm which dealt with the problems that breastfeeding mums face was a must! One of the most common questions we were asked was "how can I relieve pain when breastfeeding?" We were delighted that our hard work paid off and our No Harm Nipple Balm was awarded a Bronze in the ‘Best Product for Breastfeeding’ by Mother and Baby magazine, reviewed by real-life mums. What causes nipple soreness when breastfeeding? At the start of the feed, when baby is latched-on there’s something called the ‘let...
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What Makes a Good Birth Partner?
Read more →Birth partners are exactly what they sound like, a partner in your birth. They can be anyone who can support and encourage you, empathise with you and who you trust to have your best interests at heart. You should put a great deal of thought into who you would like as your birth partner and whether or not you would like to have more than one. You may wish for your husband to be present for the birth of your baby but worry that he will find it difficult to watch you in labour. In view of that you may...
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The Shrinking Cervix & Problems With Labour
Read more →For those of you who haven't attended antenatal classes or Hypnobirthing classes, here's the shortened version: stress and fear in labour cause you to produce adrenalin (the fight or flight response), adrenalin causes smooth muscle to contract, your uterus is smooth muscle, your cervix is part of your uterus and also smooth muscle. When you're in labour oxytocin (the love hormone) makes the top of your uterus contract, because there's hardly any receptor sites for oxytocin at the bottom of your uterus and cervix it allows your cervix to stretch to allow your baby to be born. Now...when you feel...
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Pain Relief for Labour & Birth
Read more →Regardless of whether you go into labour naturally or are undergoing an induction of your labour you will still have some level of anxiety and with that anxiety comes the fear-pain cycle; the more anxious you become the more pain you appear to feel. If you can manage your levels of anxiety then you should be able to cope with your labour pain more effectively. This is not possible for everyone as people feel different levels of pain and anxiety levels, for that reason there are many forms of pain control available to use. The most amazing thing about labour...
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Your First Midwife Appointment
Read more →So, you’ve just checked your pregnancy test, and it’s positive! What next? Research prams? Stock up on pregnancy products, such as the My Expert Midwife range? Have a look at the latest cots? Subscribe to Mother & Baby magazine? Well, you can do all of the above, but at some point you need to make an appointment with a midwife who will organise all your scans, blood tests and hospital appointments. The midwife will also inform you of all the important things regarding your pregnancy along with choices for you and your baby’s care. If you’ve decided to book for private...
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Top 5 Pregnancy & Postnatal Apps
Read more →There’s not much that can’t be accessed, or achieved, on a mobile phone nowadays. Smart phones are a staple of most people’s everyday lives in the UK, and there’s lots of really useful content that can be accessed on them. There are a number of apps that we recommend that can give women a whole host of useful information about their pregnancy at the click of a button. We've put together five of our favourites for this blog post; it’d be great to know of any others that you’ve found useful. Squeezy This is an NHS physio app, designed to help...
