Musical Mama Babyled Musical Sensory Sessions; Mother & Baby Spa Courses; Group & Private Antenatal Classes
31/12/2025
By today’s standards, this image feels shocking.
By the standards of its time, it was survival.
Before infant formula, safe sterilization, and modern neonatal care, families faced impossible choices when a mother couldn’t breastfeed—due to illness, complications, or death.
In many rural communities, goat’s milk became a last resort.
Goats were accessible.
Their milk was believed to be easier to digest than cow’s milk.
Unsterilized bottles carried deadly risks.
This wasn’t neglect.
It wasn’t spectacle.
It was an act of care—using whatever means existed to keep a child alive.
Images like this unsettle us because they remind us of truths we often forget:
• how fragile infant survival once was
• how recent modern medicine truly is
• how parenting was shaped by necessity, not comfort
What looks unthinkable now was, for many families, the difference between life and death.
31/12/2025
Most Popular Posts of October 2025
When a child’s upstairs brain (the thinking, reasoning part) is online, they can plan, problem-solve and make good choices.
When they’re in their downstairs brain (the survival part), logic goes out the window — they act on impulse, not intention.
Understanding this helps us respond with calm and connection, not punishment.
Visual taken from Emotions and My Brain activity pack. Link in comments or via Linktree in Bio.
31/12/2025
31/12/2025
31/12/2025
Colostrum is the first immunization 🤍🍼
It is a living, biologically active substance designed specifically for the first days of life. Every drop is intentional. Small in volume because the newborn stomach is small. Dense in protection because the newborn immune system is immature…
Colostrum is rich in secretory IgA that coats and protects the infant gut. It contains leukocytes that actively fight pathogens. It delivers growth factors that help close intestinal gaps and support gut maturation. This early protection MATTERS because the newborn period is the most vulnerable window of life ✨🧬
Colostrum responds to the environment. A mother’s body produces antibodies based on what she and her baby are exposed to, providing targeted immune protection in real time. This level of specificity *CANNOT* be replicated, packaged, or manufactured 🤱🏼🌍
Colostrum is not nutrition alone.
It is immune signaling.
It is gut programming.
It is biological communication between mother and baby 🤍
There is absolutely no consumer product that substitutes for colostrum because colostrum is not a product. It is physiology. It is design. It is the biological bridge from womb to world.
Colostrum exists for a reason.
Every drop matters.
31/12/2025
Most Popular Posts of November 2025
When a young person is overwhelmed, “calm down” feels like the obvious thing to say — but it’s something a dysregulated brain simply can’t do on command.
In that moment, their body is in threat mode: heart racing, breath shallow, thinking brain offline. Until their nervous system feels safe again, calm isn’t a choice — it’s a state they have to be guided back into.
This visual explains the brain–body loop behind big feelings, and why co-regulation and connection work so much better than pressure or reasoning.
If you’re navigating this at home or in the classroom, our The Child Brain Explained Toolkit gives you step-by-step support to help a child return to calm.
31/12/2025
31/12/2025
Chopping Baby Food Safely: A Size Chart Guide 🥗🍲👶
31/12/2025
I see a LOT of holiday plugged ducts. ABM #36 reframes clogged ducts as part of a mastitis spectrum, not a single hard plug that needs to be “worked out.” What we used to call a clogged duct is now understood as localized inflammation and narrowing of milk ducts, often caused by milk stasis, swelling, or changes in feeding or pumping patterns. The milk is still moving, just less efficiently in that area, which is why parents may feel a tender lump, fullness, or soreness without fever or systemic illness.
The protocol emphasizes reducing inflammation, not aggressive removal. That means:
•Gentle, normal feeding or pumping based on baby’s cues, not over-emptying
•Ice or cold packs after feeds to calm inflammation
•Anti-inflammatory support like ibuprofen if medically appropriate
•Light lymphatic drainage or very gentle massage, avoiding deep or painful pressure
•Supportive bras and avoiding tight clothing or compression
Importantly, ABM advises against older recommendations like forceful massage, vibration, aggressive pumping, heat before feeds, or trying to “push out” a plug, as these can worsen inflammation and increase the risk of mastitis.
If symptoms do not improve within 24 to 48 hours, or if fever, flu-like symptoms, redness spreading, or worsening pain develop, the protocol recommends evaluation by a healthcare provider to assess for inflammatory or bacterial mastitis and guide next steps.
31/12/2025
Most popular posts May 2025
Co-regulation equals connection.
But sometimes, even with the best intentions, we accidentally send mixed signals.
Here are 5 DON’Ts of co-regulating when your child is overwhelmed:
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Send a message to Stand & Deliver Birth & Beyond & Musical Mama:
Mindful Wise Antenatal & Parenting Education...... and calm,babyled musical sensory sessions for babies & toddlers
I’ve spent 26 years teaching for the National Childbirth Trust in Worcester, as an Antenatal Teacher and then as an Advanced Teacher. In those years I have chaired the Maternity Services Liaison Committee at the Royal Worcestershire, and run a Miscarriage Support Group in Worcestershire for The Miscarriage Association. I was NHS Parent Education Consultant for 3 years. spending much of this time working on the script for a dvd for Parents - The Story of Birth, and attempting to formalise antenatal education within the NHS Trust. I also taught Parent Education classes for the NHS for 2 years. For over 15 years I have lectured midwives and Student Midwives at University of Worcester, mainly on “how to teach” and “Active Birth”.
My degree is in Healthcare, and I have a PGCE in Higher Education.
I have supported women at births, and have been priveleged to be present at the births of two of my grandchildren.
I believe in simple, practical and straightforward teaching about childbirth - providing women and their partners with the tools to cope with labour and afterwards - breathing,movement, vocalisation, and helping them to understand how their baby is involved in the birth process as well.
As a private Educator, I offer one to one sessions either in your own home or at The Fold Therapy Centre, Bransford, nr Worcester.
In partnership with Royal Porcelain Works (www.royalporcelainworks.co.uk/events/) and with my daughter Lydia Healy (@Musical Mama), I provide a one stop shop for families - free antenatal classes on Wednesdays; baby massage and baby yoga (Touch & Move Sessions) on Thursdays. I am a Level 4 Massage Therapist specialising in Pregnancy Massage,and a Hands on Babies qualified baby massage/yoga instructor. Lydia is a nursery nurse, children’s contemporary music singing teacher, a performer and singer - and mother to a two year old!
With my massage “hat” on I also offerTouch & Talk - which is for women to debrief their labours, followed by or during a relaxing massage, and pregnancy massage.
Lydia leads the baby, cruisers and toddler Musical Sensory sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the first Saturday in each month.
