The Bounce Back! Your postnatal health, wellbeing and fitness

This time last year I got together with an amazing group of women to have a very exciting meeting, with Baroness Cumberlege who is the Independent Chair of the Better Births Maternity Review, working to ensure women receive the treatment that they deserve when having their babies. We wanted her advice about how we could …

Pelvic flaws – the link between pelvic floor dysfunction and postnatal mental health issues

My talk at the Birth Trauma Conference earlier this month focused on the link between maternal mental health and pelvic floor dysfunction. I explored three main questions: —Is there a link between birth injuries/pelvic floor health and maternal mental health issues/postnatal depression? —What is currently going awry with the system of postnatal care and how …

New year – same you! Why we should ditch new year’s resolutions

It's that time of year again, where fitness advertising cashes in on the fact that we've all eaten too many biscuits and have been sitting on our bums a lot for over a week. What do you think about new year's resolutions? Do you make them? Do you ever keep them? I think there's a …

The Supermum Myth – how to overcome anxiety, ditch guilt and embrace imperfection

Motherhood is the one thing able to send you from feeling like a million dollars to a piece of poo, in one swoosh of a baby wipe. It contains our zenith, and our nadir. You’re having a great mothering day: you wake up after three hours’ unbroken sleep (which constitutes a great night), you manage …

Anxiety in motherhood – why you’re feeling anxious, and how to make friends with it

What is anxiety? What is its purpose? Anxiety organises our responses to threats to our life, health and wellbeing. Focuses on our escape from danger. It encompasses feelings of unease, worry and fear – and this includes both the emotions and the physical sensationswe might experience when we are worried or nervous about something. This …

Mindfulness for pregnancy, birth… and motherhood

Mindfulness is definitely a buzzword, like many a new fad in the wellness industry we may have reached peak saturation in terms of hearing about this as a skill/method/technique. Which is a shame as I think it makes people roll their eyes when they hear the word, rather than prick up their ears. How do …

Mindfulness for mums – meditation for perinatal wellness

I'm so delighted and proud to say that I have passed my first level of Teaching Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with the British Mindfulness Institute. My own mental health as a mum has been so powerfully enhanced by MBCT techniques in the writing of The Supermum Myth (such a huge learning curve for me and one …

Perinatal anxiety – what it is, and tips for how to manage it

Perinatal Anxiety What is it, and why am I feeling it? We’ve all heard of ‘postnatal depression’ and it looms large in your imagination as a scary ‘thing’ that might happen after the baby arrives. Increasingly being recognised, though, is the fact that heightened levels of anxiety or low feelings during pregnancy can increase the …

What is “the postnatal period”? How long am I “postpartum”?

I've just finished writing Postnatal Pilates - I cannot wait for this to be available as a resource for mums to take ownership of their physical and emotional recovery after birth. But, what exactly is “the postnatal period”? It is not a small window of time that exists after you have a baby. It’s not …

Abdominal Massage – why it’s so important for your postnatal recovery

If I could have known the power of JUST ONE THING postnatally first time round, it would have been the immensely healing and restorative power of abdominal massage. Particularly post-caesarean, but arguably essential as a general post-pregnancy recovery tool. All new mums should be given the gift of understanding how much power you have in your …