The birth-ed podcast Megan Rossiter, birth-ed

If you’re a regular listener to the show, or you’ve done a Birth-ed course, you’ll know that I really value breathwork in labour, but I hadn’t realised the calm that breathwork can bring to pregnancy until I read today’s guest’s book. This week I’m talking to Carolyn Cowan, embodied psychotherapist, yoga teacher and author of Breathing for Pregnancy. Carolyn explains why and how conscious breathing works, gives a short breathwork demonstration and shows how to integrate the practice into...

C-section recovery is one of those subjects that is rarely mentioned before you experience it. So this week, I’ve got together with Clare Bourne, a pelvic health physiotherapist, to talk you through what you need to know to recover well. We cover everything from how to get out of bed in those first few hours, to exercise, to long term recovery and scar massage. For more information on Caesarean Sections, see Season 2 Episode 6 - Caesarean Birth with Consultant Obstetrician, Florence Wilc...

This episode is essential listening if you’re trying to decide whether to labour in a birth centre or midwife-led unit.I’m exploring everything birth centres, with my friend, midwife, Issy Bourton. Issy and I look at what a birth centre/midwife-led unit is, how your experience there can differ from a hospital birth, what you can expect to happen during your labour, how to request a birth centre labour if you are not low risk, and transferring to a labour ward.For more information about s...

Many parents feel that they have to pick a side on the feeding debate - breast or bottle. But the reality is that often families find themselves a compromise, whether that is adding an occasional bottle to their routine, or switching to formula during the day, and breastfeeds when mum gets home from work. Despite this, information about how to go about mixed or combination feeding has been scarce, until now. My guest this week, Lucy Ruddle IBCLC, is author of a guide to mixed feeding, Mixed U...

With social media platforms increasingly censoring candid images of birth and women’s bodies, I got together this week with The Naked Doula, Emma Armstrong, to talk about why we need to see real women’s experiences online. Our wide-ranging chat touches on using the correct words for female anatomy in schools, how we set realistic expectations for birth, and how reconnecting with your body through periods, birth and the menopause is truly empowering.Emma Armstrong is a mother, a birth coach an...

Continuous Foetal Monitoring can be uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing or misleading, but there’s plenty of evidence for its use, right? That’s the question Dr. Kirsten Small set out to answer after her long career in obstetrics. Her research led her to question everything about trace monitoring, from the case for low and high risk differentials to how centralised monitoring changes care in the birth room.In this episode, I’m speaking to Kirsten about her findings, and how you can make an inform...