Expectations vs Reality of Motherhood
Welcome! You Are Here Because You Believe Birth Is About Making Mums Too.
Doula Interview with Ashley Winning
I’m joined by Ashley Winning, a Pregnancy and Birth Guide. Ashley is a wife and a mother of three girls. Motherhood has completely changed her life, and she completely loves it!
She created The Motherhood Circle to provide mums with a nurturing, safe environment to talk about their fears and struggles. With over six years of experience as a qualified Postpartum Doula, Ashley supports pregnant and Newborn Mothers with her online programs and mentoring.
Ashley discusses her research on Newborn Mothers, women’s expectations around postpartum and whether they are getting the support they need. She shares some insights and key findings of her research and the different kinds of support women actually need during the postpartum period.
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What You Will Learn
[00:48] About Ashley Winning
Ashley has created an online community for support where Newborn Mothers can find non-judgemental advice and resources.
Ashley supports mothers locally, too, with workshops and circles based out of the North Gold Coast area.
[01:38] Why Ashley researched Newborn Mothers
Ashley conducted an Australia wide survey. She wanted to know women’s expectations around postpartum and see whether they are getting the support they needed.
The survey asked how the participants were feeling before having the baby and after the baby was born.
Ashley’s aim was to support and nourish as many mothers as possible.
Ashley had over 135 responses in 24 hours, she was blown away by how many women were eager to share their postpartum experiences. They wanted a forum to feel safe and find out if their experiences were normal.
[04:34] The key findings of the research
85% of the women who completed the survey said they were expecting support during the postpartum period, and 100% of participants said they didn’t receive the support they expected.
Common words used by these women were alone, isolated, overwhelmed and stressed.
Women said the support they needed the most once they had the baby was emotional support of someone to talk to, space for recovery and support around breastfeeding.
Women said they wanted their privacy to be respected, they wanted to be looked after, get help with breastfeeding and be reassured they were doing a good job.
“Mothering the mother”
[13:18] The actual experience of the Newborn Mothers
Ashley asked her participants what they thought Newborn Mothers need the most, and they responded with their own words. The words used included “compassion” and “empathy.”
“We’re never told to trust ourselves, ever.”
“It is okay for mothers to make mistakes and that is the best gift you can give a mother.”
Most mothers didn’t get the support they needed and most of them felt lonely. Ashley heard the words tiring, lonely and depressing again and again.
[22:10] What Ashley is doing to help mothers
Sharing her research findings with other doulas and Newborn Mothers professionals. This helps them understand how mothers are feeling and support them the right way.
Writing blog posts and sending them to people on her newsletter and social media.
“There is no late time to start building a village, I’m still building my village” Look at those around you who do support you and how they support you. If you don’t have those people around you, look for online communities and spaces or going to activities are great to connect with local women.
Connect with Ashley
Ashley is a wife and mother of two little girls, the Founder of The Motherhood Circle and passionate about supporting new mothers through motherhood by creating a safe, non-judgemental space for mothers to grow, learn and become the mother they want to be.
You can access Ashley’s Free Plan for Preparing For Your Postpartum here
You can connect with Ashley via her Facebook Support Group, found through this link
Newborn Mother’s Podcast
Ashley is a Newborn Mothers Collective Graduate and recently completed very interesting survey of Australian mothers asking them about their expectation of the transition to motherhood and the reality. We'll reveal the results on today's episode. Ashley is a wife and mother of two little girls, the Founder of The Motherhood Circle and passionate about supporting new mothers through motherhood by creating a safe, non-judgemental space for mothers to grow, learn and become the mother they want to be.
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