Flourishing Families

Your little one is sick. Oh no!! Is this bad? Is it dangerous? Do we need to go to emergency?Ilana Lawrence from Sick Sense talks with us about her education program for parents, designed to help us recognise when we can handle the situation till the morning and when we need to go to hospital now. Illy is very generous with her tips and advice and this episode will make you feel much more comfortable about your children's health expressions.

Erin Cuskelly is a physiotherapist at Female Focus in New Lambton.  We talk about pelvic floor stability, abdominal diastasis and incontinence challenges after childbirth (both vaginal and caesarean!). Erin explains her approach as a physio and gives some great advice on what mums can do at home to optimise function of their pelvis and core during pregnancy and after bub is born.

Tara from Empowering Mothers talks to us about the importance of providing support to new families.  Support can come from many sources in many different ways: partners, family and friends helping with meals, laundry and holding bubba while mum takes a shower.  Sometimes though it is awesome to have someone not too close, who can be asked to do anything - and that someone could be a post-partum doula. Tara's goal as a post-partum doula is to help a new mum enjoy the fourth trimester by providing  emotional, physical, informative, and practical support. This is to ensure that mama feels supported, cared about, rested, fed and empowered.

Rochelle is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI) in Newcastle. She sees massage as the perfect way facilitate the loving relationship between infant and parent. Bonding is enhanced through massage as it includes the sense of soothing touch, hearing the parent's gentle voice, the loving eye connection and even the beautiful smell of baby. Rochelle believes that all new parents have an innate wisdom when it comes to meeting the needs of their new baby and when supported by their community, secure attachment can be nurtured.

Rochelle is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI) in Newcastle. She sees massage as the perfect way facilitate the loving relationship between infant and parent. Bonding is enhanced through massage as it includes the sense of soothing touch, hearing the parent's gentle voice, the loving eye connection and even the beautiful smell of baby.  Rochelle believes that all new parents have an innate wisdom when it comes to meeting the needs of their new baby and when supported by their community, secure attachment can be nurtured.

Sarah is a specialised yoga teacher and experienced birth doula. She offers weekly prenatal and postnatal yoga classes at Family Chiropractic Charlestown. Sarah speaks about how pregnancy yoga can be a form of birth preparation as well as a foundation for building your postpartum village. She holds quarterly mamas circles in our garden and provides postnatal yoga as an extension of community and support founded in pregnancy. Follow Sarah on instagram @sarah.yogimama or enquires through website www.yogimama.com.au

Helen has years and years experience with childbirth. She has worked as a nurse and midwife in a hospital setting and more recently as a private midwife supporting families who want to have their baby at home. In this podcast she shares with us important insights into the essential elements of birthing and how to support women to achieve their best experience.   Helen can be found at 'Homebirth with Helen'.

Heather Foord is passionate about educating women about the health of their pelvic floor.   There is an important dynamic relationship between the abdominal muscles, our breath and the pelvic floor. She shares with us some valuable pointers on how we can strengthen these at home.  Heather also explains the science behind some amazing equipment she has in her studio which can help improve incontinence and diastasis recti in just a few weeks. 

Jess Hastings is an actuary risk analyst, and has been juggling and assessing risks for a living for many years. Since having a challenging pregnancy and birth with her first child, she has been passionate about helping pregnant couples making sense of the information provided at this time, and making the most best decisions for their situation. Jess can be found at www.motherlybirthservices.com.au and Motherly Birth Services on social media.

Joanne Macintosh is a pregnancy and post-partum massage therapist, doula and yoga instructor. She shares with us about the healing that happens at both physical and emotional levels throughout pregnancy and how intuitive massage can help. Joanne can be contacted via https://joannemassagedoula.au/

Ellesse Hawkins from Fleur Pilates in Charlestown talks us through safe exercising during pregnancy and those delicate early months of motherhood.

Erin Dube` is a kinesiologist with a background in occupational therapy and hypnobirthing.  She takes us through what kinesiology is and how it can help a wide range of health issues.  

In this episode the tables have turned and Dani from NewyFitness interviews Dorte Bladt from Family Chiropractic Centre Charlestown about her Switched-on Kids program.

The baby whisperer Natalie Ebrill from Sleep and Settle shares with us her favorite tips to help baby have a good night’s sleep. She reminds us of the importance of feeding well, playing well and sleeping well through the day as the secret to a better night. Enjoy 🙂

In this episode I have a chat to the lovely and knowledgeable Dani from NewyFitness.  She shares about the importance of being patient and kind to ourselves as we safely return to exercise.  Her advice is to gently build the pelvic floor and core stability from the inside out, and being mindful of healing that is still happening within.  Dani also talks about the many options for healing diastasis recti and organ prolapse without the need for surgery.  

Kristie Ussher shares with us how acupuncture, Chinese herbs and other aspects of Chinese medicine can help with various aspects of women’s health.  She has a particular interest in helping couples with their fertility journey, supporting both mum and dad-to-be with whatever path they have chosen. With her background as a doula she also has a real passion for helping pregnant women prepare for birth. Kristie favours a holistic approach, incorporating the tools of her craft with emotional and nutritional support.   www.kristieussher.com.au

Emma Maher is a wonderful lady with lots of valuable knowledge about breast feeding. She is an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) who also has a background in nursing and midwifery. The best thing is, she works right here in the Hunter :). Emma shares with us a wealth of information and advice about how to handle some of the challenges one may experience with breast feeding. You can find her here: https://www.empoweredlactationwithemma.com.au/

Doula Sarah Newling shares with us how she supports growing families through pregnancy and birth.  By providing sensible research-based information as well as centering yoga practice, she empowers the birthing parents to be to make the best decisions for them for this lifegiving journey.  Overarching this is Sarah’s focus on fostering connection and trusting relationships to promote the feeling of emotional and physical safety and wellbeing. https://www.yogimama.com.au/

To raise our children to be happy and successful is every parent’s goal and dream.  Deb Arthurs is an ex-teacher and educational board advisor and she is passionate about children’s learning. On this podcast you will love to learn her ideas about creating thriving families. Her website ‘Best Parenting Advice’ is also a goldmine of free tips and tools to help you stay focused on what is important.

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Susan Walton, a Newcastle behavioural optometrist, talks us through the importance of our eyes working as a team. We are all aware that 20/20 vision is essential for health and learning.  However, having the eyes work together as they alternate between focusing close, looking into the distance and moving here and there is equally important.  Susan enlightens us about how the function of our eyes reveal how our  brain functions.  She also shares what we can do to improve function of them both.

Breast feeding is recommended by WHO for the first 12 months of a baby’s life, but it can be heart-breakingly hard work for some mum’s and babies.  Tethering of the tissues in the mouth may affect baby’s ability to create a good seal and an effective suck when feeding, potentially causing tummy pain and reflux. Tongue, lip and buccal ties may also lead to trouble with chewing, swallowing and speech. Kristie-Lee Anning is a local dentist with a masters degree in oral tissue revision. She shares with us the in’s and out’s of what this is all about and what can be done about it.   Dorte Bladt: I’ve got Kristie-Lee Anning with me today from Honeysuckle Dental and she’s going to talk to us about tongue-ties, and lip-ties and things like that. I’m so pleased you could be here. Thank you for joining us. Kristie-Lee Anning: Thank you for having me. Dorte Bladt: I’ve given people your name. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Kristie-Lee Anning: I’m a general dentist and I’ve done some additional training in laser dentistry, so I did a Master’s of Laser Dentistry over in Slovenia. That’s given me the opportunity to have a bit of better understanding about tongue-ties and things like that, and the release and benefit of the release. But I’ve also got a nursing background before I did dentistry. That’s also piqued my interest in that area. Dorte Bladt: We just spoke before about you potentially being a little bit hyperactive. You have definitely been. You have confirmed my suspicions. You’re crazy. So why taking a course in Slovenia? Kristie-Lee Anning: Yeah. The academy over in Slovenia, the Laser & Health Academy, they produce the lasers that I use in my clinic and they’re one of the best lasers in the world. So the training academy that they have there is really comprehensive so that’s why I’ve done the travel over to Slovenia to do the training on site. Dorte Bladt: Okay. Excellent. So tell us a little bit about… I think for many parents, there’s a lot of confusion about what the tongue-tie or lip stuff, what is it that you actually look for and work with? Kristie-Lee Anning: Often, I get a lot of mums coming in with babies that are having challenged with their feeding patterns, sleeping patterns. Babies have not been able to breastfeed effectively and have had to go onto bottle feeding. And parents that are wanting to improve the feeding experience often reporting that their children or their babies have got reflux or colic, very unsettled sleeping. So when they come in to see me, we’re doing an evaluation to see if those feeding patterns, if there’s a contributing factor from tongue-tie release or tongue-tie that might require some release or some intervention. But also checking the other tissues within the mouth, checking lip ties as well and buccal ties and just seeing what the movement or range of movement is of all of those oral tissues. Dorte Bladt: So what I hear you say is that you’re doing quite a comprehensive assessment both of the symptom, if you wish, but also what may be the cause. Kristie-Lee Anning: Yes. Dorte Bladt: It’s not enough just to come in and say, okay, I lift my child’s or my baby’s tongue up and I can see that it’s tied and I want it done. Kristie-Lee Anning: Yes. There are quite a number of factors that we’re evaluating. Everyone has a freedom attachment or that piece of tissue that’s under the tongue or under the lip that tethers the tongue in some way. It’s whether or not that tissue is restrictive and functionally limiting in feeding, food consumption for older toddlers as well, not just babies, speech development and other factors. So there has to be some limiting factors there that contribute to it in order for us to want to treat that.

Carrying your baby in a carrier or a sling on your body has many benefits to both of you.  For the carrier it allows you to have both hands free to do other things especially important with siblings.  Having baby’s weight, light as she is, close to your body decreases the  stress and strain on your muscles and joints minimising fatigue.  Having her close also increases your opportunity to be tune with baby’s needs and moods.  For your baby, when she is in a supportive and well designed carrier, she is protected, safe and warm.  She is snuggled close enough to hear your heart, your breath and your voice as she could in the womb. She follows your daily rhythm and routine and gets gentle sensory stimulation through your movement and experiences. Peta Wilson, a Newcastle physiotherapist, designs, consults and sells wraps, slings and carriers.  She talks us through the benefits of the different options and what to look for to get the perfect fit for you and your baby.   Dorte Bladt: I’d like to welcome to Peta Wilson today. She’s from Moondani. Hello, Peta. Peta Wilson: Hello Dorte Bladt: Thanks for coming along. Peta Wilson: Thanks for having me. Dorte Bladt: So tell us a little bit about the exciting things you do. Peta Wilson: Well, I’m a physiotherapist locally and I’m also a mom of three beautiful babies. From there, I started to wear my babies in various types of carriers and decided to start a business called Moondani. I design fabrics and I make them into ergonomic, physio, myself-approved carriers so that they’re comfortable and they’re fitting well and also look very attractive. Dorte Bladt: Very good. So you obviously have a bit of a creative side. Peta Wilson: I do. I enjoy that side of it a lot. Dorte Bladt: There seems to be a lot about baby carriers and lots of different options on the market. Can you explain to us why would you wear a carrier and what should you look for? Peta Wilson: It’s very confusing especially for a new parent. They often want to get a carrier before their baby is even born so it can be a really tricky concept to get your head around. But the reasons you might want to wear a carrier is, one, to be hands-free so that you can do other things. Babies like to sleep a lot. They like to cuddle a lot. They like to feed a lot. And it really helps if you can have a comfortable way to keep them close while you’re still interacting with the world. So that’s good for both mom and bub and dad and whoever is caring for the child. There’s a thing at the moment. It’s called the fourth trimester, so it’s obviously something that’s been around since the beginning of babies and parents. But they’ve coined the phrase, the fourth trimester. That’s basically giving your baby a womb-like experience. They’re very used to being warm and cuddled in close and hearing the lulled sounds of their mother. Wearing your baby in a well-fitting carrier can give them that easier, gentler transition into the world after birth, which is really beneficial for all sorts of things. So their hormonal regulation, their temperature regulation, not to get into too much science about it but it just gives them that gentle transition into the world. Dorte Bladt: I think the science bit is very interesting, though. There are so many physiological benefits from continuing being close to mum but we sometimes, in our little busy industrial world, we sort of forget… just stick them in the capsule in the car and stick them in the pram that looks like it’s a tank but it’s quite removed from the experience that they had before. Peta Wilson: Yeah. I find from my own personal experience that having the baby close most of the time, it just puts them in sync with your own rhythms of your day.

Dean O’Rourke lets us in on the secret of breathing properly to promote health and well-being for the whole family.   Dorte Bladt: I’m so excited to have this next speaker with us today. I saw a young person come into my practice the other day and they had just found this guy in… well, actually, they’d been recommended to see this guy and I was like, whoa, I found someone in Newcastle. So I’m so pleased. Thank you for joining us this morning. This is Dean O’Rourke. I’m really pleased to have you here. Dean O’Rourke: Thank you. Dorte Bladt: Tell us a little bit about yourself? Dean O’Rourke: Well, my health journey has been an interesting one. I started out as a Health Phys Ed teacher many years ago after doing it at Newcastle Uni. I found I was getting more and more interested in the health side of things and less and less interested in the sports side of things. But what happened to me is I developed a very severe and chronic case of hay fever. I was suffering it all year round, not just in spring but all year round, taking all of the drugs that the doctor was giving me and getting sicker and sicker and it just seemed like there was no end to it. So in utter desperation, I went looking for answers. When I started doing that, it changed the course of my life, essentially cured myself of the condition. I’ve been medication-free and symptom-free for many years now. And it changed my career, what I do. Dorte Bladt: Excellent. So what do you actually do? Dean O’Rourke: I specialize in breathing and orofacial function. So I help people with any breathing-related problem, any chronic respiratory problem, or any problem that they might have related to that. It’s a very specialized area. There’s not many people that do what I do. Dorte Bladt: No. It’s so exciting you’re here. Dean O’Rourke: So I’ve been doing it for over a decade now in Newcastle and on the Central Coast. Dorte Bladt: When you say that you’re specializing in breathing, it’s one of those things we do many times a day and we could sort of lift our eyebrows and say, “You know what? I’ve done it for many years now.” So tell us a bit about what you’re looking for. Dean O’Rourke: That’s often the way people think about breathing and the reality is there’s a lot of misconception about breathing and a lot of misinformation as well. A lot of people do think it’s just something you do and you just stop doing it one day. Dorte Bladt: Hopefully not too soon. Dean O’Rourke: That’s right. But the reality is there is a right and wrong way to breathe and, when I discovered that, a whole new world opened to me. The reality is that dysfunction can range from mild through severe. It can happen at any age. And if you are on the dysfunction spectrum, it can lead to a whole heap of health problems, well, problems people suffer. Genetics plays a role in that, or maybe the severity of it, but, very often, the trigger or the path they go down is because of their breathing function. The reality is you’re breathing 24/7. So if it’s not right, it’s affecting you 24/7. It’s the foundation of your health. Most people you ask them what the two most important things to their health are, they would say diet and exercise. As important as those two things are, I’m not in any way saying they’re not important, but the reality is breathing is well in front than those two things. The only thing that comes close to breathing in terms of critical function, in terms of what you need to do to promote it would be hydration. And hydration is a distant second to breathing, still. But most of us just take breathing for granted and we’re unaware of how much it may be affecting our health.

Meg Linton from MegHQ talks about how to meet life’s challenges with a present and balanced mind and body. Typically, in our feverish goal to get fit and healthy, we rush around madly working hard to tick off exercise on our ‘to do list’.  However, in our rush, we often forget the importance of connecting to what we holistically need in this moment.  Being mindful of what our bodies need, and slowing our movements down so we can control  them and create balance will greatly enhance the results our efforts. Meg mixes primal movements with yoga and breathing practice, and shares with us some pearls we can bring to our own efforts of creating better health.   Dorte Bladt: So Welcome to Meg Linton. I’m really excited to be with Meg today. She’s from Redhead Wellness Sanctuary and she’s come here to share some amazing information about the body. Welcome. Thank you. Meg Linton: Amazing. Thank you so much for having me. I’m really pumped to be here. I’m super excited. When you mentioned it, I just had this like little buzzy feeling, so I’m super, super grateful. Dorte Bladt: Excellent. Well, tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you? Meg Linton: Goodness. I teach yoga. I teach mindfulness. And I teach kids and adults how to speak differently and speak better to themselves. Dorte Bladt: That sounds interesting. Meg Linton: Yeah. It’s just something I’m so passionate about. When we change the way we speak to ourselves, when we become aware of that, we can then change the direction and therefore we can actually be in a happier state. We can have more energy and vitality. So I’m so passionate about that. Dorte Bladt: Sounds really, really interesting. So you say you’re doing yoga, you teach yoga? Meg Linton: I do. I teach yoga at Redhead Wellness and a few other places around Newcastle. I speak in schools on body language and bullying and self-sabotage. I am writing a book at the moment as well. Dorte Bladt: You are busy. Meg Linton: Yeah. It’s good. It’s my passion and I love it. Dorte Bladt: So I want to just hit you on the yoga for a little while because yoga seems to be, that’s what we have to do in 2019. Meg Linton: Yeah. It’s become like a bit of a trend, isn’t it? Dorte Bladt: Totally. You have your yoga mat wherever you go. What type of yoga, if I say, do you do but also do you find is useful for families? Meg Linton: Beautiful. Great question. I do many types of yoga, I suppose. I think it all comes in handy. I think it’s a mixture of balance, kind of getting that equilibrium between that yin and yang. For families, I think just getting on the mat, having a play and not being so serious. It’s about just moving the body and breathing. It’s not yoga without the breath and the breath is what brings us back into that beautiful parasympathetic state. It’s a way to find this delicious kind of flow within the body. I know that every time I get to my mat I feel so much calmer after that. I feel really relaxed and I can actually function a lot more. I’m a lot more kind when I get to my mat. I try to get to my mat every day. For kids, even if it’s just finding 20 minutes, some animal movements, even some animal sounds, we do that at Redhead, that’s super cute, it’s having fun and allowing ourselves to get lost in our practice and be mindful and be present because, in the present, we have peace. If we are stuck in our past or if we are looking too far ahead in our future, we are going to be in states that are going to alter us. We’re not going to feel calm. We’re not going to feel that beautiful, nice state that we should be operating in. Dorte Bladt: Or are definitely better when we are. Meg Linton: Totally. Dorte Bladt: You mentioned, and I just grabbed on that,

Children’s chiropractor, Dr. Dorte Bladt, discusses the practice of mindfulness with Charlotte Thaarup of The Mindfulness Clinic. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dorte Bladt, the (opens in a new tab)">Switched-On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: I’ve got Charlotte Thaarup here today. I’m very excited. She’s from (opens in a new tab)">The Mindfulness Clinic. Charlotte, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do. Charlotte Thaarup: Well, I’m in a very privileged position because I work with what I’m most passionate about and I know it works. I see it on a daily basis. So, I work with mindfulness, and I have for the last 10 to 15 years. Of course, it’s extremely researched. They have 150,000 research documents and articles on it. Many of them are nonsense ones but nonetheless, it points to their effectiveness. Of course, what it does is that it mirrors and matches the ancient practice of mindfulness which sits within Buddhism and it matches that beautifully, so that’s exciting.   Dorte Bladt: Just to make sure that we know that we’re all on the same page – what is mindfulness? Charlotte Thaarup: That’s a good question because I think there’s so many different definitions. Some define the practice, some the outcome – that’s confusing in itself. So, if you are doing mindfulness, it’s a “doing” thing. It’s not something you can read in a book. Reading about mindfulness is not going to make you mindful because it requires awareness, so it is a practice where we start to get to know our minds. Of course, our mind is a result of our past, so we start to observe how the mind works so that we can direct it more in wholesome ways and away from unwholesome. That’s really what we’re doing. Dorte Bladt: Can you give me an example because that sounds very beautiful, but I’m not quite sure if I can see it in my head. Charlotte Thaarup: So you’ll notice thoughts – thoughts pop up all the time. You’ll also notice sensations – feelings in your body arise all the time, so when you observe something that comes up that’s not very pleasant, let’s say you observe jealousy, and you’ll notice that as a sensation that sort of sits in the chest and in the gut. You can go, “whoa, I better just breathe a little bit now so that doesn’t become a really big cloud.” That’s one example when you catch it in the body and you just sit with it and you know it is a visitor. It’s not a truth. You can just be with it. You might notice a thought that goes, “oh, I don’t know why he’s saying that. What a stupid thing to say,” and you go, “whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me not continue further on that one.” Just take a few breaths and calm down and then see other options of thinking, because every time you think of a thought that’s kind of charged in that way, you’re strengthening what we call the angry, greedy, arrogant, reactive wolf within,

Dorte Bladt discusses movement and disabilities with exercise physiologist, Anna Campbell. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dorte Bladt, the Switched-On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: I’d like to welcome Anna Campbell from HealtheCo to our podcast this morning. Anna, tell us a little bit about yourself. Anna Campbell: Hi Dorte and thank you for having me and thank you, everyone, for listening. I’m an exercise physiologist (EP) and I run a business called HealtheCo who specialises in pediatric disability. Also, we do see clients who have musculoskeletal conditions and other chronic conditions but 99.8% of our portfolio are kids with disabilities. Dorte Bladt: Excellent. So tell me about – what is an exercise physiologist compared to a personal trainer? Anna Campbell: We get asked that a lot, actually. Often the question is “what’s the difference between an exercise physiologist as compared to a physio or a personal trainer?” So, there are some similarities but there’s also a vast difference in what we do. Exercise physiologists prescribe specific movements for medicine. So we don’t generally diagnose injuries. We leave that usually up to the physiotherapists and doctors. You do sometimes find an exercise physiologist out training people in gyms and in football teams and things like that, but most of the time, we spend our time in the middle, working with people with chronic conditions, so for me, I specialise in the disability area but there are lots of exercise physiologists who may specialise in oncology, diabetes, arthritis. Dorte Bladt: So when you mention those, do you mean exercise physiologists may work for example with someone following surgery for breast cancer who may have trouble moving their arm. Is that what you mean? Anna Campbell: Absolutely. Yes. So, exercise – the more they study it, the more they realise if it could be put into a pill, every single person on the planet would be taking it and every single doctor would be prescribing it and, basically, the government would be fully subsidising it.   Dorte Bladt: However, there’s no money in it so… Anna Campbell: Exactly. So exercise is, fortunately for us, finding its way into so many treatment modalities such as a female who may be suffering from breast cancer. The exercise can not only help with the outcomes of the chemotherapy but it can also help that person feel better throughout the chemotherapy whilst also treating side effects of the chemotherapy such as oedema or swelling, lack of movement through the body, pain in the body, all those types of things.   Dorte Bladt: So that’s obviously not your chosen field? Anna Campbell: No. It’s not my specialty. I certainly have an interest in it and follow, I guess, all of the research that’s coming out in those areas but, fortunately, I found myself in a very specific area which keeps me really busy in the paediatrics space. Dorte Bladt: How did you end up there? Anna Campbell: Interesting story. So we’re going back to 2002 when I graduated university. I was probably not one of the first exercise physiologists but I was one of the few that came out of the first round of the university degree. I’m showing my age now. Nobody really knew what exercise physiologists wer...

Newcastle infant chiropractor, Felicity Cook, shares her preparation and experience with bringing beautiful little Ivy into the world with Dorte Bladt. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dorte Bladt, the Switched On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: We’re going to do something really different today. We’ve got our own super mum, Felicity Cook, on the podcast today. Instead of asking your experience with work, we’re actually going to have a little bit of a chat about birth. Now, birth is a very personal experience – a good birth, a not so good birth, some are challenging – but I think many of us get scared… we sort of attract the bad stories. So we’re just here just to have a chat about a happy birth story. Felicity Cook: Yeah. Exciting! Dorte Bladt: Yes, so introduce us to the birth. Felicity Cook: So little Ivy was born back in March. We did, we actually were quite lucky. We worked hard on it but we were lucky to have a nice, straightforward birth. So a nice positive birth story, so we’re lucky. Dorte Bladt: That’s good. What were the things that – you obviously had a little bit of an idea of what you wanted. I think we all have an idea. What was your vision? What was it that you were looking to achieve? Felicity Cook: Well, for me, I wanted to make sure that I had the best birth that could allow my child to have the best darn life. That was kind of my aim. So at the end of the day, if I had to make choices that meant that her safety was paramount then I would do that, but I wanted to also make sure I can have close to natural delivery as possible. So that was my ideal and so was Ivy’s, as you can hear. So really, I wanted it to be intervention-free, if possible, and work towards that. Dorte Bladt: So that was your vision. What sort of action steps to take? What plans did you put in place to try to achieve that? Felicity Cook: Well, I made sure that I had the best support I could. Initially, when it came out to it, I wanted to make sure I had the care providers that would support that vision and who understood that vision – so I did. I went and actually met with a couple of obstetricians and then I also met with the midwives and I came away from that feeling like the midwifery quality of care was intuitively what I needed to do for me and I felt amazingly supported in that. That was great and also then having the support team around me too, so knowing that my partner was on board and he was happy with that too. Then making choices towards the end that enabled that all were on board with that too, so antenatal education and books and those kinds of things that helped along with it. Dorte Bladt: So what sort of antenatal team did you have? Felicity Cook: Well, I had my amazing midwives, my primary midwife, and she was there pretty much throughout the whole care for me. So from when I booked in at 20 weeks with the hospital and with the birth centre. I had some really good antenatal that was privately arranged and then I also had my chiropractor. That was a big part for me for lots of reasons and I had that all the way through from basically prior to conception, so I thank you.   Dorte Bladt: Anytime. Felicity Cook: Towards the end, I also did some acupuncture as well, too. That was my support team. Dorte Bladt: And when you were looking for support, what sort of support were you interested in? Felicity Cook: I knew to have the birth that I wanted to have, I knew that I had to have the options of being active for as long as possible. So I wanted somebody who would support the idea of active birth if I...

Want to learn about baby gut health? In this episode of Flourishing Families, Dorte Bladt talks to Charlestown Naturopath, Jasmine Polley, about a healthy gut for kids. Jasmine Polley shares her professional insights about the connection between a healthy gut and a healthy body and brain. You will understand the importance of feeding your gut bacteria to help them thrive and the intricacies of pre and probiotics. Enjoy! Intro: Flourishing Families with Dorte Bladt, the Switched On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: Welcome, Jasmin Polley. We’ve got Jasmin – she is a local Charlestown naturopath. I’m really excited to have a chat to you. Jasmin Polley: Hi, Dorte. Thanks for inviting me on to your podcast. Dorte Bladt: My pleasure! So tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you? What do you do? Jasmin Polley: Well, I am a biomedical naturopath. I started about 15 years ago and I’m currently still studying. I think I’ve always studied, but moving more into the functional medicine side of things as well. So I specialise quite heavily in gut and digestive health as well as hormone and thyroid imbalances. Dorte Bladt: Interesting. Can I just be – because I’m not the smartest person in the world – what’s the difference between a naturopath and a biomedical, whatever you said you were, practitioner, and functional medicine? Jasmin Polley: Well, there’s a lot of overlap there because my view on things has been always looking at the underlying cause and having a good framework where to investigate that in each person that comes in. Functional medicine provides more of a framework around that. So, it’s very evidence-based and it gives us a really good way of digging deeper and finding those Achilles’ heels that people might have that’s their imbalance and where some of their health issues may come from. Dorte Bladt: So does that mean different testing? Jasmin Polley: Yes. Dorte Bladt: How would naturopath testing compare to a functional medicine? I mean, I know it’s different from person to person. Jasmin Polley: Well, it is very different from person-to-person so it’s a difficult thing to say. I do use quite a lot of normal pathology. Not so much with kids, though, because I don’t like to put kids through unnecessary blood tests. Dorte Bladt: They hate them. Jasmin Polley: Yes, but as well as other functional medicine tests. Then obviously a big part of it is a really good case history taking, so really digging deeper, finding out when did their actual health imbalance start, because I see a lot of these symptoms as being an imbalance in what the body wants to restore to normal. So, if we can adjust that, then the body has got an amazing ability to be able to heal itself. Dorte Bladt: Yeah, it’s amazing, isn’t it? So, just fill me in a little bit about… you said, so you like, if we’re looking at kids anyway. Jasmin Polley: Yeah, sure. Dorte Bladt: Looking at their guts. What does gut health have to do with the health of a person? Jasmin Polley: I think gut health is paramount because our gut is where we’re receiving the nutrients into our body. It’s also where our immune system is trained. So, most of our immune system hangs out in the gut, especially when it comes to kids – their immune system is developing and this is happening in utero and through the breast milk as well. There’s a big priming of that immune system that’s happening in the early years.

Our own Super Chiropractic Angel Katrina is her usual inspiring self as she shares how Pilates can help us get the most out of chiropractic care. She describes the what, where and how of Pilates and the connection between movement, exercises and the breath. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dr. Dorte Bladt, the Switched On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: So you’ve got Family Chiropractic’s dynamo at the podcast today. Super duper matriarch, Katrina Morton. Welcome, Katrina. Katrina Morton: Thanks, Dorte. Dorte Bladt: Basically, just to start with, tell us a little bit about yourself. Katrina Morton: I have been at Family Chiro now for 15 years. Dorte Bladt: 15! I haven’t managed to get rid of you yet. Katrina Morton: No, no. And I have got four grown-up children. I’ve got three grandchildren with one on the way in February, so we’re all very excited about number four. I have worked here and seen so much go on through chiro so, over the years, I’ve done Pilates and so I thought I’d like to be a bit more involved with Family Chiro instead of just being on the front desk. So a few years ago I became a Pilates instructor and between chiro and now Pilates, it’s giving our patients a great opportunity to really have a good future with their supported spines. Dorte Bladt: Very good. So just tell us, what is Pilates? Katrina Morton: Pilates is a series of exercises that are performed on a mat. You can do it on a reformer that I do mat Pilates and it strengthens the whole entire body with supporting the muscles around the back, the core, your bottom and your hip. So with chiropractic aligning the spine and now with Pilates strengthening these muscles around the spine, you end up having very good posture and a lot stronger body. Dorte Bladt: That’s good. So how does Pilates differ from – I don’t know – maybe doing weights at the gym, which would also, I suppose, strengthen the body and the spine? Katrina Morton: Yeah, it does, but with Pilates, you actually are not relying on weights to strengthen you. You actually are relying on your own body weight to do it. So as we strengthen each muscle, instead of workout at the gym you might be doing weights and you strengthen the bicep, with Pilates it’s all slow and controlled. Say you were working on your arms, you’re actually strengthening the entire arm muscles, so it’s not just focusing on one muscle. You’re actually learning to focus on all your muscles and so you will strengthen all the muscles. Dorte Bladt: Also while you’re strengthening your biceps, you’re working through the core, working through other muscles there. Katrina Morton: Yeah, because of the breathing. You see, the more you breathe – the deep breaths, it gives you better lung capacity which then, in turn, helps strengthen your core muscles which then help all the stabilising muscles. So you’ll end up not just having a strength workout, you are actually doing a bit more of a mind-body workout as well.  That’s a big difference from other exercises. They just do a physical side whereas with Pilates you actually do pretty well mind, body and soul. Dorte Bladt: I have many years of doing Pilates but I always remember that rib and hip connection. Can you explain what it is that a Pilates instructor would mean by saying that? Katrina Morton: When people lie down… so do this at home, everyone. Lie down on a mat and just lay there and you’ll notice your ribs are popped up. So as you breathe, you just breathe through your tummy and it pops your ribs up but in Pilates,

Mums often struggle to balance Mum-life with everyday life. In this podcast, Dorte Bladt discusses finding a healthier balance with Newcastle Naturopath, Melinda Carbis-Reilly. Melinda, a local dynamo, mother of 5, gym owner and naturopath talks to us about how she helps busy Mums and families get a healthier balance in their lives. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dr. Dorte Bladt, the Switched-On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt:  I’d like to welcome Melinda Carbis-Reilly to our podcast today. Thank you for joining us. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Melinda Carbis-Reilly: Thanks for having me. I am the owner of Redhead Wellness Sanctuary – I’m a naturopath there. I’m also a fitness and Pilates instructor. My latest babies are my books. I’ve written a book called The Natural Path and that one is aimed for families. It’s more of a reference guide to keep it up in your medicine cupboard and when your kid has an earache or you have a tummy bug, you get it out, you flip to that page and there’s some nice home remedies there for you to get stuck into so you don’t have to race off to the doctors at midnight if it’s not necessary. Sometimes it is. Dorte Bladt:  That sounds good. Melinda Carbis-Reilly: The other book I wrote was Diggin’ Your Dark Side. That one is more to help people that are a bit challenged with stress, mental health issues, like depression and anxiety, or possibly suffering from addictions as well. So that book is based on my life when I went through a bit of a depressive state when I set up my business, ironically, in wellness is when I hit my absolute bottom with adrenal fatigue and things, so I just shared all the tools I learnt from that in there. Dorte Bladt:  Wow. That sounds like it’s built on experience. That’s always interesting to read. Melinda Carbis-Reilly:  Oh, makes a complete difference to textbooks when you actually experience it. Dorte Bladt:  Totally. And you remember it for a lifetime. Melinda Carbis-Reilly: Yes. Dorte Bladt:  So you say that you are a fitness instructor. Melinda Carbis-Reilly: Yes. Dorte Bladt: Yes. What sort of fitness are you looking at? Melinda Carbis-Reilly: I do love my classes. That’s what I’ve stuck to now. I used to do a lot of rehabilitation and physical therapy back when I first started in the industry, especially with my Pilates. I was very much into that. But now I really like the group fitness because everyone is happy when they walk in the room. They’re ready to go hard and then go home. So I do love my strength and cardio and spins, probably one of my favourites as well. Dorte Bladt:  You also have your naturopathy side of things. What do you specialise in? What’s your favourite? Melinda Carbis-Reilly: My favourite is probably gut health, I must say. I do love working with the gut because, as a typical naturopath, we believe that’s where it all starts. But I also love helping Mums and kids. That is a big passion and that’s where most of my clients lie. I find that a lot of kiddies come in that have immune problems and they have gut problems as well. I’m seeing a lot of kids with anxiety which is quite concerning, really, and the Mums are stressed. Mums are worried. Mums are busy so I like to help them get on top of that and their stress levels. Dorte Bladt:  If you have a child with anxiety that comes into your office, what would you look at? How would you address that kid? Melinda Carbis-Reilly: We really as naturopaths like to look at it quite holistically, so we will look at from the ground up. We’ll look at their physical health; we’ll want to know how they&#8217...

Chronic stress can cause a shift in a mother’s fight or flight response. Learn more with Newcastle chiropractor Dr. Dorte Bladt and her chiropractor friend, Kelly Beanland. Stress is an inevitable part of life. It can be both good and bad depending on what sort of stress it is, and how we deal with it. Kelly Beanland, chiropractor at Family Chiropractic Charlestown, explains how chronic, bad stress can cause a persistent fight and flight reflex, and how this can cause health problems, what it may look like in both children and adults and what to do about it at home. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dr. Dorte Bladt, the Switched On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dr. Dorte Bladt: Good morning. I’m really happy to have Kelly Beanland here with me to do a podcast this morning. Thanks for coming. Kelly Beanland: Thank you for having me, Dorte. I’m excited to be here. Dr. Dorte Bladt: Excellent. Can you tell us who you are? Kelly Beanland: I’m a chiropractor. I’ve had the utmost honour and privilege to be adjusted since I was an infant. My Mum took us from a very young age so I became a chiropractor seven years ago and I now work at Family Chiro in Charlestown. I have a special interest in seeing kids, families, young babies, pregnant women, so that’s exciting for us. I’ve trained in Gippsland as well after I first graduated from RMIT, so I’m a Victorian. I grew my practice there and now I’m in sunny Newcastle. Dr. Dorte Bladt: Sunny Newcastle, except for today when it’s not very sunny. Kelly Beanland: It’s a disgusting 40 degrees. Dr. Dorte Bladt: Tell us, you have a particular interest in something called Sympathetic Dominance. What exactly does that mean? Kelly Beanland: Yeah, I do. We’ve decided to start look at the nervous system in a very functional way and in a holistic way. As a chiropractor yourself, you would have seen a lot of signs of Sympathetic Dominance but a lot of people haven’t really connected the ideas. So we started to connect a few ideas on how stress physiology starts to change every system in our bodies over time, not just the classic stress signs of “I don’t sleep” or I get “tight shoulders” but neurophysiological changes – that’s a big word and I’ll explain it more in a minute, but what can happen to our gut system, what can happen to our hormonal system and how that can affect our bodies as a whole. So yeah, it’s very interesting work and I’ve started to enjoy doing that the last five years. Dr. Dorte Bladt: You started that from working with Wayne Todd. Kelly Beanland: Yes. I had the very great opportunity to do my first placement with Wayne and Angela Todd in Gippsland with Todd Clinics and I grew my knowledge base and how I became the practitioner I am now. Wayne put together what we call SD Protocol. Dr. Dorte Bladt: What exactly does it mean, the sympathetic dominance? Kelly Beanland: Sympathetic Dominance refers to how hard a system functions. It starts to look at our voluntary versus involuntary systems. We’ll put voluntary aside for a second and let’s just talk about our involuntary cycles. That separates into another two arms, being sympathetic and parasympathetic. So if we think about our parasympathetic, a lot of people think of that as a rest-and-digest part of our nervous system. This part of our nervous system does most of its work while we’re actually asleep and in our healing phases and when we’re more resting, so when we’re not in an aggravated or what we call fight-or-flight part of our nervous system.

Chewing is important for strengthening the lips and facial muscles thereby facilitating better breathing patterns.  Chewing also helps keeping teeth and gums healthy. Mary Bourke explains the Myo Munchee chewing device.

Learn school readiness for your kids with principal Kate Highland and Newcastle chiropractor, Dr. Dorte Bladt. Assistant principal Kate Highland shares with us how we can help our kids feel comfortable and confident as they enter a new and exciting phase of their lives: Big school. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dr. Dorte Bladt, the Switched-On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: I’d like to welcome Kate Highland today. Kate Highland is the Assistant Principal at Charlestown East School. I’m really excited to have you on and share with us about school readiness. Kate Highland: Okay, thank you, Dorte. Yes, my job here at Charlestown East – which is a government school, a public school in New South Wales – is I look after all of the children in kindergarten Year 1 and Year 2. A lot of what I do is bring them into the school. So all of those processes to do with orientation and easing their transition into school here. I give a lot of advice to a lot of parents about that and I run the Whitebridge Community of Schools Readiness Night. That happens around May every year where we invite parents to come along. They can ask questions and it’s a big information-sharing session. Some of the things I say there, at that session, are to do with having strong links with your preschool and taking advice from preschool teachers because they know your child and they know what they’re up to, they know their readiness levels and they’re the best person to give advice about readiness. We, of course, haven’t seen your child yet at that stage of the year. We look forward to getting to know them. But your preschool teacher will give you advice about things like how they’re holding a pencil, for instance, and the areas that they need correction. It’s also a good place to start making playdates with friends so that your children start to socialise and kindergarten, believe it or not, a lot of it is about socialisation and getting along with friends rather than academics. Dorte Bladt: That’s the most important thing, isn’t it? Kate Highland: Well, you would think so and that, obviously, is something that is vital and it is our main focus, but we also believe that for your child to be an independent, functioning human being later on in life, they need to be able to relate and communicate with each other and learn all of those things that are vitally important. A lot of times, skipping to the end of school, when children leave and we ask what it was that they really enjoyed about school, they’ll talk about kindergarten. They’ll talk about their friends. They don’t remember learning how to read. They don’t remember learning how to count. They remember their buddy, the person that helped them in the playground open their lunchbox. They remember creative arts performances. They remember being in a play.  They remember those sorts of things. So those human aspects are vital as well as the academics. Dorte Bladt: Well, preschool, when you think of it from preschool to kindergarten, it’s a great transition then of being, like you say, learning how to grab that pencil and how to make friends. So you’re building on that. Kate Highland: You’re building on those things, yes. So we look for lots of things in the children coming in. We look for people who can share, children who don’t demand to be first,

Discover the magical benefits of a natural birth with local doula, Nichola Kinnane, and our very own Newcastle baby’s chiropractor, Dr. Dorte Bladt. Nichola talks with us about supporting couples with knowledge and skills for birth. Intro: Flourishing Families with Dr. Dorte Bladt, the Switched-On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive. Dorte Bladt: I’d like to welcome Nichola Kinnane to our podcast today. It’s lovely for you to travel down and have a chat with us today. Welcome. Nichola Kinnane: Thank you for having me, Dorte. It’s lovely to sit down and have a conversation. Dorte Bladt: Excellent. So tell me, who are you, Nichola? Nichola Kinnane: I am a doula and also a childbirth educator. At the moment, I’m offering the She Births course which is a holistic, evidence-based childbirth education course in the Newcastle and mid-north coast areas. Dorte Bladt: Excellent. So just for our listeners, just tell me what is a doula? Nichola Kinnane: A doula is an independent, professional childbirth support person. Generally, a couple or a single mother might employ me at some stage during her pregnancy and then you are on call for the pregnancy two weeks before the due date, two weeks after the due date, and you give support during that time and then attend the birth and just offer tools and techniques and support in whatever way that looks to be for the couple or for the mother. Dorte Bladt: So what’s the difference between a doula and a midwife? Nichola Kinnane: A midwife has been trained and is a nurse and a doula is an extra set of hands. We offer all those things that you might need, where there’s someone to hold the bucket while you vomit, will give massage, acupressure and even emotional support, and support for the dads as well so they can really be involved in the birth and help to facilitate a beautiful experience for all of you there. Dorte Bladt: Excellent and how does that then fit in with the She Births experience that you offer? Nichola Kinnane: Yes. Well, I trained as a doula about 10 years ago and since then I’ve had two children of my own. I was kind of dipping my toe back into the birth world and wanted to find something else. I had a diploma in counselling as well and I wanted to find something else that I could incorporate into that work that was still in birth and I found the She Births course which was developed by Nadine Richardson in Sydney, and it seemed the perfect addition to what I was already doing and I’ve really enjoyed sharing with couples so far. The thing that I love about it is that in my experience training as a doula, I heard so many birth stories and listened to women, what they planned on using the birth they hoped to have and then I was able to also hear their experiences afterwards. In my training, I was going to birth classes with the women and going to mothers’ groups as well. What I heard during that time for the year that I was doing my training is that women have really diverse experiences and you never know exactly what you need on the day of your labour, and with all the things that you think you want, you want the candles and you want the massage and then suddenly you’re in labour and it’s, “don’t touch me, don’t come near me!” You just want to be in that corner by yourself birthing but have the right team around you to support you and She Births is a fabulous course because it offers an opportunity to explore all of the tools and techniques that ...

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Having babies wreaks havoc with Mum’s body – top to toe.  Oh well, our beautiful babies are so worth it! Eileen from Complete Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy is incredibly knowledgeable about the less noticeable changes that may occur after childbirth and shares with us what we can do to help ourselves.

Feeding the family horde interesting, appetising and nutritious meals that everyone will enjoy is always a challenge. Our wonderful local nutritionist Anita Pugh from ‘Misoteria’ shares her wisdom from the perspective of ‘real families and real hunger’.

The legendary Natalie Ebrill from ‘Sleep and Settle’ shares her secrets of how to get babies, toddlers and children to enjoy a better night sleep. Learn what to do and how to do it through the day to help the whole family snooze comfortably all night 🙂