The Holding Time Podcast

  “I always just assumed that I would give birth and just breastfeed, and that would be it. It would be this natural, straightforward thing.” “It's not just feeding them. If they hurt themselves, you can offer milk and that’s a comfort. It’s their safe place with Mum.” Rachel shares her breastfeeding journey, reflecting on initial struggles with her first child. Despite her mother’s positive p...

"I would see people passing the house and I would just daydream and think, ‘I wonder if they breastfed their baby? I wonder if they found it hard?’ And I was thinking that about people I didn’t even know." "The idea of baby groups before I had a child was hell to me. Absolute hell… I realise now I've really eaten my words with that massively. The breastfeeding group that I go to...

"I researched so much about it, put so much effort into it and it just still wasn't working."   "My mum was amazed at how much I knew about it, you know, from what I'd researched and how much I'd been taught by the midwives and how much support I was getting for it." Sinead, a mother from Bradford, shares her emotional breastfeeding journey after an emergency C-sect...

"It’s about having choices, being informed, and feeling in control of my body and birth. That’s what I wanted." "I think it's really lovely to be able to, you know, enjoy breastfeeding, which was never something I felt would ever happen with my first journey." Alison’s journey through birth and breastfeeding was marked by resilience and adaptation. Initially unprepared, she...

"I felt incomplete at times, but I kept going. Because motherhood isn’t about perfection—it’s about perseverance." "It’s not just about feeding; it’s about connection, about learning, and about standing up for what your baby needs. " Rana recounts how she planned to breastfeed her first child for two years but became pregnant again when her daughter turned one. She struggled with guilt over weanin...

"Breastfeeding isn’t just about feeding—it’s about connection, comfort, and transformation." Maddie, a medical doctor and mother to a three-year-old, describes breastfeeding as a transformative experience that led her to switch careers from Obstetrics and Gynecology to public health. Initially, she saw breastfeeding as a casual choice but soon realised its deep emotional significance, es...

  "I was really determined to breastfeed. I just knew I’d power through it no matter what." "The reality of motherhood and birth and all of that is very, like, dirty and it’s grizzly and it’s just very primal... No one can tell you what that’s like until you go through it." Alexandra’s breastfeeding journey was far more challenging than she expected. She initially believed it w...

"I wholeheartedly appreciate what my body went through in order to give me two beautiful children. I cherish that." "I think my biggest hurdle after pregnancy was being told, ‘Oh, you’ll just know what to do.’ But when your baby is crying, and you’re crying, you think, ‘I’m supposed to know... but I don’t.’" Reena shares her journey of motherhood, highlighting both the joys and...

"I 100 percent wanted to breastfeed. I knew about the benefits for mum and baby, and just thought it was something that I would do without question." "I was desperate to know any detail to make me remember, to understand what I had been through. And that journey helped me heal." Clare’s story highlights resilience, the power of informed choices, and the possibility of healing a...

"Throughout my pregnancies, I had Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction… where my hips no longer like each other or any other muscle in my body." "When the baby latches on, if the baby's got a particular infection, your body will pick that up and it'll produce the antibodies for that infection." In this interview Salma shares a deeply personal experience about the premature birth...

"I think being pregnant was the first time in my life I appreciated my body." Ruth, a mother of three, shares her journey and reflections on breastfeeding, childbirth, and motherhood. Her breastfeeding influence came from her best friend’s positive experience and despite initial uncertainties, she immersed herself in learning about breastfeeding, seeing it as an extension of her newfound...

“Increasing exposure through the media and making sure that it’s encouraged in cafes and things like that would take the individual responsibility away from the mums a little bit more.” Leanne shares her academic journey and research interests, particularly focusing on perinatal mental health and infant feeding. She reflects on her initial naivety about breastfeeding, highlighting how her experien...

"If society saw breastfeeding as normal, mothers wouldn’t feel the pressure to hide or change their choices." Deqa, a Community Engagement Lead for the Women's Health and Maternity Programme, shares her experiences and challenges with breastfeeding in public in the UK. Despite breastfeeding all her children, she has never done so publicly due to fear of standing out. She explains tha...

"The distance for me of where my baby was, in comparison to where I was... I sort of resented having to express and not be with him." Victoria reflects on her experience of balancing work and motherhood, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdowns. With her first child, she initially worked in frontline private healthcare and shares how the pandemic influenced her work-life balance and pa...

"It’s not right and it’s not fair... everywhere should be breastfeeding friendly because it is our right, it is literally legally protected." “I had a lot of guilt and shame that I've had to work through… I've still been really upset about it, but that's more because it just hasn't gone to plan, and I like things to be in control, I've discovered” Kayleigh, a mother o...

"When I was three weeks postpartum, I reached out to the breastfeeding clinic. I was in tears on the phone, like, I don’t know if I can do this." "It’s about talking to and having that support system around you to talk to. Women who have breastfed in the past, to get a full idea."   Mahum, a mother of two, shares her breastfeeding journey with all its challenges and rewards. De...

"When COVID hit... I was adamant, I am not going to stop breastfeeding this child because we don’t know what this is." Stacey’s story reflects her resilience in overcoming institutional and personal challenges to prioritise her child’s health and her commitment to breastfeeding despite systemic shortcomings. In this interview, she discusses her two-decade breastfeeding journey, revealing...

“There’s definitely some very real fear that… people go in to have babies, that they’re going to be told that they have to breastfeed, and that is it” Benash, a Specialist Cultural Liaison Midwife, discusses her role in addressing health inequalities and promoting maternal and community well-being. Her insights present a critical lens on how societal norms, inadequate systems, and cultural narrati...

"I think a lot of the pressure for me came from myself... Without this being something that I was consciously thinking at the time, I think I wanted to get it right. I wanted to kind of succeed at it." This interview with Frances explores her personal journey with breastfeeding, shedding light on the challenges, perseverance, and eventual ease she found in the process. Frances candidly shares her...

"People mean well, don't they? They're like, 'Oh, you know, give yourself a break, give them a bottle.' But when you're really trying to make breastfeeding work, it's kind of not what you want to hear." Zoe reflects on societal and familial influences that shaped her decisions, including the pervasive normalisation of formula feeding and a lack of visibility for e...

“We had already been talking about adopting anyway for years before. So we just decided we don't want to put ourselves through this journey with all the factors against us. Let's just go the adoption route.” Aisha's breastfeeding journey was a heartfelt attempt to create a deep bond with her adopted child while fulfilling Islamic guidelines. Despite trying herbal remedies and using a b...

"You shed the skin of your former self once you give birth to another human. And you'll never be that person again for a myriad of magnificent and horrendous reasons” This conversation with Rea, a lactation consultant and interfeeding coordinator, focuses on the challenges and complexities surrounding motherhood, breastfeeding, and the broader cultural and medical framework of women's...

"I knew that I wanted to breastfeed. I definitely knew that I wanted to breastfeed and I knew that it was the better option for my child because I did a lot of reading and educated myself around the benefits of breastfeeding." Amta, an artist and producer from Bradford, shares her experience with breastfeeding and motherhood. She highlights her desire to breastfeed, understanding its ben...

“The adrenaline rush after birth was just incredible... but then there’s the getting down the mountain. I sort of feel like breastfeeding is the bit of getting down the mountain” Ella reflects on her surreal experience post-birth. How she felt disconnected, almost like a visitor in the hospital, because her focus quickly shifted from recovering herself to caring for her baby, who was in critical c...

Anne Marie "The support from my mum and my husband was probably what kept me going through the hardest times"  Reflecting on her breastfeeding journey, Anne Marie credits her husband and mother as essential sources of support, particularly in difficult times. Her mother, who hadn’t breastfed herself, learned alongside her, offering encouragement that kept Anne Marie going through the challenges, e...