Birth Savvy Bub Savvy

If you have a baby who seems "gassy", unsettled, grunty, squirmy, or spends a lot of time drawing their legs up and crying, this podcast episode by The Baby Fact Check is well worth a listen.

One of the things I loved about this discussion is that it challenges some of the common myths parents hear every day:
• That breastfeeding mothers need to cut foods out of their diet to stop their baby being gassy.
• That every cry means a baby has trapped wind.
• That special bottles, gripe water, gas drops and endless gadgets are the answer.
• That parents are somehow causing the problem.

Instead, the experts discuss what we actually know about newborn digestive systems, the developing microbiome, and why many babies simply grow through this phase as their bodies mature.

The episode also highlights something I see often in practice: when parents are worried about "gas", they are often sold products, advised to cut foods from their diet, or sent looking for a medical explanation for what may be normal newborn behaviour. What they often need most is evidence-based information, reassurance, support, and time.

And sometimes what looks like a "gut problem" may actually be a symptom of a dialled-up nervous system rather than a digestive problem per se.

If you're interested in learning more about the gut and nervous system connection, I recommend reading this excellent article:
https://mumsandbabies.com.au/news/how-can-i-help-my-babys-gut/

I particularly loved the reminder at the end of the podcast:
"Trust your gut. If your baby needs cuddling, comforting and connection, you can't spoil them."

As a society, I think we have become very uncomfortable with normal baby behaviour. We are constantly searching for something to fix, when often what babies need most is responsive care while their bodies continue to mature.

🎧 Listen here: https://youtu.be/IAxKaV9X0gQ?si=YrXSTU7P88pZOMgW

Worth sharing with anyone currently navigating the newborn weeks.

What really helps a gassy baby? We talk burping, colic & what mum eats If your newborn is struggling with gas, can burping, anti-colic bot...

🤱✨ WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK:
1 - 7 August 2026 ✨🤱

To celebrate the start of World Breastfeeding Week, I'm excited to be launching my brand new workshop:

Breastfeeding with Confidence:
Understanding Breastfeeding Through the Lens of Normal Newborn Behaviour

📅 Saturday 1 August 2026
🕤 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
📍 The Village Wellness Centre, West Perth

Most breastfeeding classes can teach you how to breastfeed.

But this workshop helps you understand why babies behave the way they do.

When you understand why babies feed frequently, cluster feed, wake often, seek contact and sometimes seem to live at the breast, you are far less likely to worry that something is wrong.

Join me for a practical, evidence-based, 3-hour workshop where we'll explore:

✔ How breastfeeding works and how milk supply is established

✔ How to make the most of the first hours after birth

✔ Breastfeeding biomechanics, fit and hold, and positional stability

✔ How to work with your baby's natural feeding reflexes

✔ What normal newborn feeding and sleep behaviour really looks like

✔ How to know if your baby is getting enough milk

✔ Common breastfeeding challenges and where to get help

✔ The vital role partners play in breastfeeding success

This workshop combines the latest research on lactation, breastfeeding biomechanics, and newborn neurobiology and behaviour to help you get breastfeeding off to the best possible start.

🌸 $180 per family

🌸 Partners attend free

🌸 Limited numbers

If you're expecting a baby in 2026, I'd love to help you approach breastfeeding with confidence, realistic expectations and a deeper understanding of your baby.

Bookings are now open
https://birthsavvy.com.au/events/breastfeeding-with-confidence-workshop/

Researchers at Durham University reviewed 62 studies looking at both the benefits and risks of babywearing.

What they found was reassuring.

Babywearing offers important benefits for both babies and caregivers.

The review found evidence that babywearing can:
🤍 Support bonding and secure attachment
🤍 Increase parental responsiveness
🤍 Reduce crying
🤍 Support breastfeeding
🤍 Improve parental confidence
🤍 Reduce parental anxiety

Researchers also found that parents primarily use slings and carriers because they want to be responsive to their baby's needs while still being able to get on with everyday life. They want to stay close, soothe their baby, support breastfeeding, keep their hands free and remain mobile.

One study found infants of adolescent mothers who used carriers were more likely to develop secure attachment. Another found babywearing increased positive engagement between mothers and babies.

Interestingly, an Italian randomised controlled trial found that mothers who received a carrier and babywearing education were significantly more likely to still be breastfeeding at both 2 and 5 months postpartum.

Of course, babywearing isn't risk-free.

The review identified two main risks:
⚠️ Positional asphyxia (airway obstruction)
⚠️ Falls

Most serious injuries and deaths occurred when babies were poorly positioned, their airways became obstructed, or carriers were used incorrectly.

The authors' conclusion wasn't that parents should avoid babywearing.

It was that parents need better education about safe positioning, airway protection and carrier fit so they can safely enjoy the many benefits babywearing offers.

The message from this review is clear:

Babywearing has benefits. Parents simply need good information about how to do it safely.

This is something I always cover in my parenting workshops 😊

References in comments.

Have you used a sling or carrier with your baby? What did you love most about it? 👇

This 🙌

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYwllncDv3q/?igsh=eGsyczl6cnNuMGp0

Should we be encouraging babies to sleep longer and deeper? ㅤ A clip from @TheBabyFactCheck with @gregfoot - the new parenting podcast where trusted experts fact check the baby advice filling your social media feed. This clip is from Episode 1: Newborn Sleep, where Greg talks with Professor Helen Ball - Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre (@basis_babysleepinfosource), and Author of "How Babies Sleep" ㅤ Check out the full episode for more on whether white noise can help a newborn sleep. ㅤ LISTEN to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, or WATCH on YouTube - just search for The Baby Fact Check. ㅤ FOLLOW @TheBabyFactCheck for more clips.

A recent WA news article reported that exclusive breastfeeding rates are already dropping to 57-60% before mothers are even discharged home, despite 95-97% intend to breastfeed.

That should tell us something important.

The issue is not that women “don’t want to breastfeed.”

The issue is that many women assume they will receive all the support they need in hospital… but increasingly, that simply is not the reality.

Hospital stays are shorter.
Midwives are stretched.
Not all postnatal staff have adequate breastfeeding training.
Hospital lactation services are overwhelmed.

This is a problem because the first 72 hours matter enormously.

This is when:
✨ Milk production is being established
✨ Babies are imprinting
✨ Maternal confidence can either build or unravel very quickly

This is why I believe antenatal breastfeeding education matters so much.

If breastfeeding is important to you, I honestly would not wait and hope support will be available later if challenges arise.

Be proactive.

•Find out if you have any risk factors.

•Understand how birth and breastfeeding are connected.

•Know what can be done to optimise feeding if you have risk factors or if birth does not go to plan.

•Know where to access skilled support early.

You deserve better than trying to figure it all out in crisis mode.

Good preparation.
Early support.
Better outcomes for WA families.

Most parents I meet aren’t lacking knowledge…
they’re navigating too much noise!

I’ve just been certified as a Parental Brain Educator.

And while I’m incredibly proud of that, I want to be really clear about what this means to me professionally.

This isn’t about becoming “the expert” on parents.

It’s about deepening my ability to help parents understand themselves.

Because in my experience, the biggest shift doesn’t come from giving more information…
it comes from supporting parents to develop confidence in their own capacity.

To understand what’s happening in their brain.
To recognise their instincts as biologically meaningful.
To make decisions from a place of clarity, not doubt.

🧠 The neuroscience matters here.

We are wired for connection, co-regulation, and responsiveness.

And yet, many of the systems and messages parents are exposed to can disrupt that…
often unintentionally undermining confidence and increasing reliance on external authority.

This is where I see my role.

Not as someone who has the answers…

But as someone who can:
✨ translate the science into something meaningful and usable
✨ create space for parents to reflect and make sense of their experience
✨ support the rebuilding of trust in their own instincts
✨ reduce the sense of isolation that so many parents carry

Because self-efficacy in parenting isn’t something we can “teach” directly.

But we can create the conditions where it grows.

Receiving this feedback as part of my certification felt incredibly affirming, because it captured exactly what I hope to bring to my work:

“Pip, what stands out most in your work is your ability to honor both the science and the human experience. You are not just sharing information—you are helping parents make sense of themselves, reconnect with their instincts, and feel less alone.

It is truly an honor to recognize you as a Certified Parental Brain Educator. The families you support will benefit deeply from your wisdom, your presence, and your commitment to this work.” ~ Rocío Zunini PhD.

Because parents don’t need fixing.
They need environments, conversations, and support that allow them to come back to what’s already there.

Because ultimately, it’s not about us having the answers…
it’s about creating the conditions where parents can find their own.

And part of that work is gently helping parents block out the noise. Including the W.E.I.R.D cultural messages that can shape expectations around sleep, feeding and "independence", and that are often reinforced within our own health systems.

So they can hear what’s underneath it all...the whisper of their own intuition.

New research finds IVF babies are less likely to be exclusively breastfed at discharge.

But here’s the part that matters 👇

👉 Before we blame IVF, we need to look at the systems surrounding these births.

In this large Victorian study:
• Breastfeeding initiation was high
• But IVF babies were more likely to receive formula
• And less likely to be exclusively breastfed at discharge

And then this:
67% of IVF births occurred in private hospitals
vs 27% of non-IVF births

Same babies
Different systems

We already know that in private hospital settings:
• Intervention rates are higher
• Early formula use is more common
• And fewer private hospitals are BFHI accredited

So maybe it’s not that these babies are harder to feed or that IVF itself impacts breastfeeding.🤔

The culture and environment around birth and breastfeeding can impact a breastfeeding journey.

Breastfeeding is not just about what happens at the breast
It’s about what happens around the birth and early postnatal period.

✨ This is why prenatal breastfeeding education matters.
Preparing yourself to trust yourself 🤍

📚 Reference
Pritchard, N. L.,et al (2026). The impact of conception by in vitro fertilization on breastfeeding initiation and establishment among singleton infants: A statewide cohort study. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2025.11.034

So special to spend the morning with 💛

I first met her 11 years ago at her Recipes for Normal Birth workshop… and something just clicked.

Since then, I’ve devoured every webinar, book and blog she’s created. Her work has shaped the way I think, and the way I teach.

It’s hard to put into words just how much of an influence she’s had on me over the years.

And now… to be able to call her a friend feels pretty incredible.

(Still quietly confident that I am her number one fan 😉)

“You don’t have to have all the answers.
You just have to be the answer.”
— Gordon Neufeld

This quote resonated so deeply with me when I heard it during a webinar.

Gordon Neufeld is a developmental psychologist whose work centres around attachment and the parent-child relationship… and this quote captures so much of that in just a few words.

Because so much of modern parenting makes us feel like we should have all the answers, and if not we have to…
Google it.
Search it.
Ask in a group.
Scroll at 2am trying to work out what you’re “supposed” to do.

But what if the answer isn’t out there?

What if the answer… is you?

So much of the work I do with new parents is helping them gently quiet all that noise…so they can hear the whisper of their own intuition again.

Because your baby isn’t asking for a perfectly researched response.

They’re asking for you.
Your presence.
Your smell.
Your voice.
Your arms.

And yes, that can feel uncomfortable in a world that is very loud with opinions.
It can feel like you’re going against the grain to stop searching and start listening inward.

But your biology already knows this.
Those instincts? They’re not random. They’re deeply wired.

And this doesn’t stop after the newborn days.

Being the answer in those early months is where it begins…
where safety is laid down, where trust is built, where your child learns who they can come to.

This is the foundation of a relationship that carries right through toddlerhood, childhood, teens… and beyond.

So next time you find yourself reaching for your phone in the middle of the night…
pause for a moment.

Say it to yourself:
“I don’t have to have all the answers. I just have to be the answer.”

Then take a breath…
and go to your baby.

Because more often than not, that’s exactly what they need 🤍