Materniverse: birth, boobs & bubs

16/02/2026

Can't recommend Dr Kirsten Small's work highly enough! Fetal monitoring is a choice. And it's your choice.

16/02/2026

Important answer here.

This is a question I hear often......and it’s a very fair one.

When you’re already navigating feeding and sleep issues, and the emotional weight of caring for a newborn, the cost of support can feel overwhelming.

Many parents expect feeding support to be low-cost or government funded… and honestly, it should be more accessible than it is.

Unfortunately, at this stage, IBCLCs aren’t funded through Medicare.

Private IBCLCs are running businesses, and that comes with a lot of behind-the-scenes costs most families never see.

Things like:
• multiple types of insurance so we can safely practice
• equipment and clinical supplies
• clinic space, home visits, or travel costs
• ongoing professional development (which is required to maintain our certification)
• booking systems, clinical notes, and secure record storage
• certification and registration fees
• phone, data, and admin systems
• wages, superannuation, and tax
• business and professional taxes
• travel and accommodation for training

The list is long and none of it exists without intention.

It can be hard to hear that care feels “too expensive,” especially when most IBCLCs have invested years of study, training, and experience and often take home less than they would in a hospital role.

But we do this work because we fill an important gap in antenatal and postnatal care.

We support families in real time, during some of their most vulnerable moments.

Even with private health rebates, it can still be out of reach for some families and that matters.

For families who can’t access private services, there are government and not-for-profit organisations doing incredible work, we can help guide you toward those options if needed.

For families who do choose private support, the cost reflects what’s required to provide care that is:
• unhurried
• ethical
• experienced
• sustainable

Private IBCLCs aren’t pricing care around “what we’d like to earn,” but around what it genuinely costs to run a business and keep supporting families sustainably.

You deserve support.

And practitioners deserve to be able to keep showing up for families.

Both things can be true 🤍

10/02/2026

When we understand normal physiology of women's incredible bodies, their babies, and birth, we can replace fear with trust, and hasty interventions with watchful patience- and women can birth their babies in peace- only receiving interventions if actually needed.

📕 "Routine medical intervention is considered to reduce the risks arising from the woman’s body, reflecting the herstory of women’s bodies being defined as malfunctioning and dangerous. Although this medical approach to risk claims to be rational, effective and underpinned by research, it is not. This is primarily because maternity services focus on reducing the negative impact of an event on the organisation rather than on the individual. In fact, many of the routine interventions carried out during birth increase the risk of complications rather than reduce them."
https://www.rachelreed.website/rcrp

08/02/2026

Induction! My bug bear. Ruins so many normal births. Turns low risk to high risk immediately. Doesn't decrease stillbirth rates.
Knowledge is power.

When it comes to some of what is being shared about the pros and cons of induction in late pregnancy, what we’re seeing isn’t evidence-based decision making.

It’s decision-based evidence making.

This makes it all the more important that women and families can explore the evidence and the issues for themselves, so that they can make the decisions that are right for them.

All of my books have been written with this aim in mind.

My most popular book is called, “In Your Own Time: How western medicine controls the start of labour and why this needs to stop.”

I wrote it to help demystify the evidence and also to highlight some of the significant discrepancies between guidelines and what we really know about the benefits of supporting women to birth spontaneously.

Find out more at https://www.sarawickham.com/time

08/02/2026

You can't fix something that isn't broken.
Most problematic infant sleep is actually normal.
Knowing this relieves anxiety and stress and allows you to decompress and look at how you can adjust your lifestyle to optimise rest that doesn't try to get your baby to do something they just can't do- yet.
Any struggles with this please reach out. Getting good support is a Boss Mama move xx

19/11/2025

So happy about this! Thank you Dr Rachel Reed for making this chapter widely available!

This is Chapter One of the audiobook version of Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage.

19/11/2025

I have to share this as a matter of some urgency. Thank you Tracey, I couldn't have written this better.

Here's why I'm not rattled by the new sleep training paper, what the research actually shows & why your intuition matters more than ever.

25/10/2025

🥰🥰🥰 such a fun morning!

24/10/2025

Last chance to book in!
10 professionally edited photos of you and your bub/s
Discounts from Adele at The Good Days Photography for subsequent shoots
Specials from me
And 2 hours to connect with other like minded breastfeeding mamas and ask me anything about all things matrescence! 🥰🥳

15/10/2025

Fl**ge fittings!! I am stoked to be offering this service now and I can confirm that the right Fl**ge size can make a massive difference. If it's going well, that's great, you don't need to fix something that isn't broken. But if it's uncomfortable, painful, or not giving you much milk for your efforts, even if it was before, a Fl**ge fitting/check is warranted.

Our bodies are not symmetrical. While the fl**ges that come with your pump are the same (usually too large) diameter come as a matched pair, some people may actually need different diameters for each side. Some may even need a completely different type of fl**ge, like silicone on one side or hard plastic on the other. If your pump experience isn’t comfortable, feeling like nothing or a gentle tug, keep trying to find the right fl**ge. New research says smaller is better, with most people finding they need the diameter to be somewhere in measurement between that the tip and the base of the ni**le measure. If your lactation consultant told you to add 2-4mm from the measurement of the base, they are giving outdated, non-evidence based recommendations which can increase the risk of plugged ducts and inefficient milk removal that can lead to dropping supply over time.

**ge

12/10/2025

Lactation support appointments available this Friday morning ❤️ in studio at Bellbowrie or home visits. DM or email me at mia@materniverse.com.au to book in.

01/09/2025

I am so thrilled to be supporting the beautiful Keshmi as one of her guest speakers in her upcoming Mamas - Brisbane Mothers' Group Programs in Graceville. I'll be there holding space and presenting about one of my favourite topics- honouring our matrescence journey and understanding the biological, developmental needs of human infants- so we can honour our babies AND ourselves in this uniquely joyful, challenging season of our lives. I can't wait. I only wish this existed when my babies were little!