Down to Birth

Welcome to the April Q&A with Cynthia and Trisha! Today, we begin with a conversation about one of the most personal questions women face: is there a best age to have children? We talk about the pressures around timing, fertility, career, and spacing, and why this is one of those decisions that depends entirely on the individual woman, her life, and what feels right to her.
Next, we get into your questions, starting with a mother who experienced a very fast labor and wants to know if precipitous birth can be prevented and how to better handle it mentally if it happens again. Another listener shares her experience of a difficult pushing stage that resulted in ruptured blood vessels in her eyes and a long recovery from an anal fissure, and asks what she may have done wrong. We talk about why women so often assume fault in these situations and what actually influences outcomes in the pushing stage. We also address pregnancy weight gain, how much control women really have over it, and whether calorie restriction or tracking has any place in pregnancy.
As always, we close with a round of quickies covering the purple line in labor, nursing to sleep, deciding whether to have a second child, ways to reduce the risk of preeclampsia, tips for managing morning sickness, hand pumping while breastfeeding, long first labors, frequent night waking, evening milk supply, shoulder dystocia, and more.
Thank you for your excellent questions and please continue to call them in to our hotline at 802-438-3696 or 802-GET-DOWN.
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Down to Birth Show
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.

Today, we talk with Tiffany Belanger of @cosleepy about some of the challenges that may arise for co-sleeping families, whether you're trying to reduce night feeds, prepare for another baby, or simply want your bed back. We discuss how these transitions often unfold, including moving a child into a crib or floor bed, and why the experience can look completely different from one family to the next, depending on lifestyle, a child’s temperament, and the parents' mental and emotional states, like guilt, anxiety, exhaustion or embarrassment.
This is a free-flowing, honest conversation, not a set of rules to apply. The goal of this episode is to prepare you for these transitions, normalize some of the challenges parents face, and offer a range of ways to move from one stage to the next that most resonate with you and your family.
Tiffany on Instagram @cosleepy
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Send us Fan Mail
Needed <-- this link for 20% off your whole subscription order
DrinkLMNT <--  this link for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure:  ingredients good for you and the earth. Promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Organic herbal padsicles for healing. Promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits: <--this link for 20% off
Join Patreon for our exclusive content
IG @downtobirthshow
Down to Birth Show
Call 802-GET-DOWN
Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.

We are back with another breastfeeding-only Q&A episode. In today's conversation, we respond to several listener questions related to nursing, sleep, and fertility after breastfeeding. One mother who is co-sleeping with her 15-month-old, who wakes three to five times per night to nurse, asks how she can help her toddler sleep longer stretches without abruptly stopping breastfeeding. Another listener with a 4.5-month-old who has never taken a bottle is planning to attend a bachelorette party when her baby will be about nine months old and asks how best to prepare. We also hear from a mother who recently weaned her two-year-old and then experienced a very early miscarriage, often called a chemical pregnancy, and wonders whether she should consider hormonal support before trying to conceive again.
As for our Quickies: Is it concerning if a 12-week-old drops slightly on the growth curve while still gaining weight, what the issue is with the Boppy pillow for breastfeeding, and can you continue breastfeeding while taking antibiotics for mastitis? We also discuss healing cracked nipples after a tongue-tie release, whether milk will come in normally if you breastfeed during pregnancy, and whether lactation cookies or brewer’s yeast actually increase supply. As also cover oversupply with a second baby, postpartum chills when milk comes in, storing breast milk and keeping pump parts clean on long drives, preventing recurrent mastitis from oversupply, whether a mild tongue tie should be released if breastfeeding is going well, what a “nursing holiday” is and whether it can help supply and latch, and how to help a bottle-fed newborn latch to the breast.
Just us on Patreon for our upcoming all-Quickies episode, exclusive to patrons-only.
Controversial article we discussed in this episode:
My Decision Not to Breastfeed with Elise Hewitt
#239 | The Cost of Breastfeeding Versus Formula Feeding with Dr. Rhonda Trust, PhD

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Send us Fan Mail
Needed <-- this link for 20% off your whole subscription order
DrinkLMNT <--  this link for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure:  ingredients good for you and the earth. Promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Organic herbal padsicles for healing. Promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits: <--this link for 20% off
Join Patreon for our exclusive content
IG @downtobirthshow
Down to Birth Show
Call 802-GET-DOWN
Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.

In today's episode, one of Trisha's clients, Holly, shares the story of two very different births and two equally different breastfeeding experiences, and what shifted between them.
Her first labor began spontaneously but ended with a vacuum delivery, and the demoralizing message that her “pushes weren’t productive.”  Breastfeeding was just as difficult, leading to a year of mostly exclusive pumping and undiagnosed postpartum anxiety. 
Four years later, she approached birth with real preparation, a clear plan, and a timely transfer of care to a midwife who immediately changed the tone of her birth experience.
This episode examines how preparation, autonomy, and the right support can change not only the course of a labor, but the way a mother understands her own strength.
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Send us Fan Mail
Needed <-- this link for 20% off your whole subscription order
DrinkLMNT <--  this link for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure:  ingredients good for you and the earth. Promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Organic herbal padsicles for healing. Promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits: <--this link for 20% off
Join Patreon for our exclusive content
IG @downtobirthshow
Down to Birth Show
Call 802-GET-DOWN
Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.

Water birth has long been controversial, but more recently, a wave of claims has emerged from the natural birth community that water birth is dangerous for babies and disruptive to the physiologic process of birth. In this episode, we sit down with midwife Barbara Harper, the world's leading expert on water birth and founder of Waterbirth International, to explain the preponderance of evidence supporting the safety of water birth and to dispel circulating fallacies.
We talk about the idea that babies can aspirate water, whether the diving reflex can fail, and the claim that water immersion interferes with a mother’s ability to respond to her baby during birth. Barbara explains what actually initiates a baby’s first breath, how the transition from fetal to newborn circulation works, and why arguments that water immersion causes a disruption to physiology that compromises babies don't hold up when you truly understand the physiology.
 Join us for yet another educational and fascinating discussion with Barbara.
Catch our other episodes with Barbara here:
#200 | Physiologic Birth of the Placenta in Water, Optimal Cord Clamping and Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage with Barbara Harper

#122 | Provider Green Lights: Interview with Barbara Harper on Holistic, Respectful & Supportive Birth Providers

#100 | The Benefits of Water Birth: Interview With Barbara Harper

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Send us Fan Mail
Needed <-- this link for 20% off your whole subscription order
DrinkLMNT <--  this link for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure:  ingredients good for you and the earth. Promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Organic herbal padsicles for healing. Promo code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits: <--this link for 20% off
Join Patreon for our exclusive content
IG @downtobirthshow
Down to Birth Show
Call 802-GET-DOWN
Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.