The Holding Time Podcast

Amy   “I grew up seeing breastfeeding everywhere... cousins, family friends, it was never something unusual to me" Amy shares her experiences with motherhood, breastfeeding, and the challenges she’s faced along the way. Her background played a significant role in her motivation: growing up in a family where breastfeeding was the norm, she assumed it would be easy for her as well. "You do feel very...

Hema   “I didn't know that you can still breastfeed while pregnant and actually tandem feed” Hema discusses her experiences and challenges with supporting mothers, and her own journey with breastfeeding amidst personal health issues. As an Advocate for extended breastfeeding, despite societal pressure to wean early,  and with a background in peer support training, she actively assists other mother...

Rosalind “People said it would hurt because I wasn’t used to it, but it just didn’t feel right” Rosalind discusses her journey before and after becoming a mother. Reflecting on how the pandemic affected her ability to access support services and socialise with other new mothers and discussing how trusting her body, and her baby, was key to overcoming challenges in breastfeeding. “In the early days...

Rayyan  “I think feeding is under-discussed, and new mums don’t get enough information” Rayyan shares her experiences with breastfeeding and the challenges she faced after the birth of her two children. She talks about the importance of having supportive people around and reflects on the lack of discussion about the complexities of breastfeeding. “My advice is to try different methods and not stre...

Lily “Don’t quit on a bad day. That was some of the best advice I got” Lily shares her experiences with breastfeeding, reflecting on both the challenges and the rewards. Emphasising the importance of support and preparation, Lily advises others to educate themselves about breastfeeding and to be ready for its challenges. She shares her strong views on extended breastfeeding and believes it's a nat...

Hannah T “I think stopping breastfeeding will really affect me mentally I need to keep going” Hannah shares her experience of pregnancy and breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting both the positives and challenges she faced. Her story reflects the complex interplay between health issues, pandemic restrictions, and the pressures of balancing work and motherhood. “You want every sin...

Hannah C “It was a huge fumble and not this amazing euphoric experience, but it was amazing to do" Hannah discusses the challenges and societal pressures surrounding breastfeeding, especially in the context of premature babies. She recognises the pressure from others to breastfeed due to its known benefits but acknowledges that it can be overwhelming, particularly just after giving birth. Here she...

Emilie "The most important thing is your well-being and your child’s well-being” Initially, Emilie planned to breastfeed for a short time, but as things progressed, she found herself continuing far beyond her original plan because of the bond and closeness it provided. Despite experiencing significant pain and mental health challenges, Emilie discusses how she found breastfeeding to be grounding a...

Chloe "Every single one of the three babies couldn’t have been more different" Chloe reflects on the support she received, or sometimes lacked, with people suggesting she switched to formula when breastfeeding was challenging. She empathises with new mothers who gave birth during lockdown, recognising the isolation they may feel without mothering groups or social support. For Chloe, meeting other...

In this new episode, marking the launch of the Halton Holding Time project, our writing lead, Rachel New introduces poetry by mothers from the Halton Family Hub Storytelling workshops that took place at Halton Lea Library in Spring 2024. Each mother took part in a six-week workshop series. We hear their written work and find out more about the workshops, what we do in them and how and why they hel...

Hannah You’re told to go away, and buy some formula, and that’s the end Hannah is a doctor and so her perspective on how women are treated by the health service is very reflective and she uses her experience as a health practitioner to reflect on the ways new mothers needs are not being met by both the NHS and wider. As a mother, she talks about her struggle to adjust to her birth experience and t...

Claire D I Breastfed her in Secret Claire talks about her different experiences of establishing breastfeeding with her two children. She discovered the importance of baby groups with her first child and when the funding for the peer support mentoring in Sefton was axed, she set up Milk Drops, a new peer support service for mothers with her friend Amy. "And then I attended our breastfeeding group,...

Claire G We’re sold an idea that it’s this beautiful, natural, instinctive thing. It isn’t. Claire explores the idea of breastfeeding as a learnt skill and talks about the confidence that comes with experience. She recalls breastfeeding her twins and, previously, an elder sibling who had silent reflux. "Feeding one child is very, very discreet, generally. Quite often, you don’t notice unless you k...

Natalie B Having a child with a milk allergy is really, really difficult Natalie talks about her experiences of feeding a baby with cow’s milk protein allergy and tongue tie. “I was lucky because I was able to find good support in the community & was able to learn how to use a deeper latch & how to latch her without it being too painful until I was able to get the tongue tie snipped”. "I k...

Vicky “I can’t do this anymore. Get the formula out” Vicky talks about the convenience of breastfeeding vs Formula and her surprise at falling pregnant after years of Endometriosis. “I had a couple of days I was like, Well, I can’t do this anymore. Get the formula out. Then you look at the formula. And you think no, actually like….the amount of different things to worry about there and get prepare...

Nicola Whoa, this isn’t from breastfeeding Nicola talks about breastfeeding with Raynaud’s and the difficulty of getting a diagnosis during lockdown. "I had Raynaud’s. It was the cold that would cause the pain and I’d been treating myself, got a doctor to treat me for thrush for through almost a month. And it obviously wasn’t clearing because it wasn’t thrush. And, because of COVID, you weren’t re...

Catherine I don’t want them to go through what I went through Catherine talks about the stress of watching her 10 day old fed on a radical weight gain programme in hospital and the impact it had on her mental health long term. “I’m so passionate about breastfeeding now more so than ever and any new mum that starts breastfeeding I just want to help them i just want to support them I just want to do...

Kelly It made such a difference straightaway Kelly on breastfeeding support and dealing with tongue tie after her baby was born at Liverpool Mother and Baby Unit. Kelly began training as a midwife and would still like to support mothers. She says, ” I think that the support’s not there for women. But I don’t mean like the support services. I mean your family and society understanding how demanding...

Amy Amy talks about establishing breastfeeding during lockdown, post natal depression, breastfeeding support, and comparing her experiences of breast and formula feeding. “When she got weighed she’d lost about 11.5% of her birth weight. And they were like threatening like hospital and put me on a feeding plan. It was just really, really intense. I ended up pumping, breastfeeding and giving her a t...

Suzanne ‘When people tell you stuff, you assume it’s right’ Suzanne talks about the differences she has experienced growing up in Birkenhead, where breastfeeding rates are low, compared to Indonesia where she has been working and where breastfeeding is the norm. Suzanne advises education as key to successful breastfeeding but also, as a single parent, acknowledges the key support she received from...

Natalie W I just thought I could like, ask for the help, and it would be there Natalie talks about how her sons tongue tie wasn’t diagnosed for the first four weeks because the hospital where she gave birth didn’t automatically refer her to breastfeeding support. Natalie’s son had a tongue tie which was eventually cut after she paid to have it cut privately. “I just thought, Oh, the help that I ne...

Victoria Victoria talks about her struggle to feed her premature baby, born 2.7lbs nine weeks early and her second 4lb child after having an emergency C-Section. Starting out in the hospital with Midwives who are too busy to sit with her whilst she attempts to feed, she struggles to establish a pain-free latch. When she returns home, the local support service, Koala North West support her in tryin...

Michelle ‘I was Told I Couldn’t Breastfeed’ Michelle talks about how her awareness about the importance of breastfeeding has grown across the years, after feeding three children. As an experienced breastfeeding mother, she says she grieved after being told in pregnancy that she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed her newborn as she would need surgery. When the time came, however, the intervention of on...

Ellen It’s been the highlight of my mothering journey so far Ellen talks about the importance of a network of mothers, especially during lockdown and reflects on breastfeeding in public. "Throughout lockdown it was very difficult, you didn’t want to meet people in different stages: one lady would have given birth so you didn’t want to go meet them because they’d just had the baby and you were heav...

Jennifer I wanted to be with my mum but I needed to be with him as well Jennifer talks about breastfeeding whilst nursing her dying mother and how she never expected to feed for so long. “I had a little person that kept shouting and screaming at me and I wanted to be with my mum but I needed to be with him as well and my husband did take him off and he would have formula he would have bottled, he...