Home Birth Canterbury

20/11/2025

How did your mum talk about birth when you were growing up, or even when you were an adult?

Our families of origin influence us so much.

Our feelings and attitudes towards pregnancy and birth are influenced by our friends, the media we take in, the internet, and others in our lives.

I also think our mothers can heavily influence us in this area.
All through our childhoods we have heard (or not heard! - which is also an influence!) our mums (or the mother figure in our lives) talking about pregnancy and birth. They may have shared their experiences giving birth to us. They may have talked about pregnancy super positively or really negatively.

I wonder how many of us felt we had to combat that influence when heading in the direction of a home birth.

Maybe you had experienced negative things spoken about birth from your mother. Maybe you continued to hear these things while you were pregnant.

Maybe your mother spoke about pregnancy with glowing reviews! Perhaps you felt disappointed if your pregnancy didnt turn out to be as easy as hers sounded.

Or maybe you felt like you really aligned with your mum's feelings on these things.

How did your mum's attitude towards pregnancy, birth and postpartum affect you?
Have you thought about it consciously?
How will you speak about pregnancy and birth to your children?

15/11/2025

15/11/2025

09/11/2025

07/11/2025

"The first intervention in birth that a healthy woman takes is when she walks out the front door of her home."
- Dr Michel Odent

05/11/2025

My baby is 18 months old tomorrow and we are finished with our breastfeeding journey.

I started feeling quite ready to wean him a couple of months ago but he wasn't feeling the same so we gently quit, one feed at a time, over the course of the last few months.
Night time weaning was a bit gnarly for a while there but I am happy to report that he is *now* overall sleeping much better than he had been when he was getting milk on tap during the night! Shoutout to hubby for helping with the night weaning!

I have breastfed my three kids for four years in total. My first quit by herself right on one, and my 2nd and 3rd were gently weaned around 1.5.
I love the beautiful milky moments I've shared with each of my little people.
It is such a rewarding process, breastfeeding a baby, and it is also so challenging at times.
It's like with so many things in life - joys and challenges coexist.

Thankful for this journey and grateful for the privilege of being his mama & dairy cow 🤣
Also, I am in awe of the amazing mums who breastfeed to age 2 or 3 or beyond!

If you breastfeeding your baby(ies), how long did you breastfeed for? Was it their choice to stop or yours?

- Bonnie

02/11/2025

DATE CHANGE for community catch up - was tomorrow! Now Monday 17th November.

Date changed due to sickness.

See you there.
17 Nov
17 Stables Dr, Lincoln
7:30pm

30/10/2025

HOME BIRTH AWARENESS WEEK 2025

There isn't a lot of noise being made online about Home Birth Awareness week! So let's make some!

The NZ statistics:
Around 3-5% of births in Aotearoa are home births. This changes depending on the region.
Here in Canterbury it was around 5.5% based on last available stats (2023).

Home births are a great option for women to consider.

If you:
- want to stay in your comfortable space during labour
- want to have only the people present who you trust and have invited to attend
- don't want to get in the car while you're having contractions
- want to increase your chances of a normal, physiological birth
- might like your children to witness the birth of their sibling
- want to reduce the pressure on the maternity system / hospital
- want to welcome your baby into your own home

then consider a home birth!

*****SHARE this post!*****

29/10/2025

PSA

Your butt first baby is not 'breached' or 'breeched'.

They are in a position called 'breech'.

I keep hearing people talk about their baby being 'breached' and it irritates me so much 😂 The term is BREECH people!

I suppose the sac of the breech baby could be breached, but thats about the only thing possible to be breached in this scenario... lol

By the way, breech babies *can* be born vaginally in the vast majority of cases and most of the time the pushback on doing vaginal breech birth comes because of providers not being skilled & experienced in it, NOT because of the inherent extreme risk of a baby in breech position.

Thanks for coming to my mini TED talk xx

Bonnie

26/10/2025

❤️

It's ok to rest and play.

💗 Collective

🌸🌸🌸 OUR FABULOUS ISSUE 59 IS ON SALE NOW 🌸🌸🌸

It's packed full of inspiration, tips, advice and real-life experiences to guide you on your journey through pregnancy, birth and motherhood - whether you are expecting a new arrival this year, are adjusting to life with a new baby, or are deep in the trenches of parenthood.

Get your copy now - available locally and internationally online.
Find your local stockists here: https://linktr.ee/TheNaturalParentMagazine
https://thenaturalparentmagazine.com/product-category/shop/magazine/

You can pick up a copy from your local Woolworths or selected stockists in NZ, from your local newsagent in Australia, from WH Smith High Street stores, selected Waitrose & Partners and independent bookstores across the UK, or online from anywhere in the world.
🌸🌸🌸