My Birth Geelong

It was an absolute please to meet and get to know so many like-minded health professionals in Geelong last night. We are all working hard to support YOU and what you need in the pregnancy/ perinatal/ postnatal space!






aus



and_mind

Cup is full! 🫶🏼💞

Time for a new introduction! 🫶🏼

For those that have followed me for a while (thank you!) you know that my services have changed from mostly childbirth education to now postnatal and feeding support.

This decision was really easy and quite fluid- it was naturally where I was leaning toward. Let’s face it, postpartum support is lacking. Mums are sent home from hospital quickly, and as a result we’ve never felt more alone or vulnerable.

This is where I feel I can make a lasting difference. I’ve been postpartum four times and bring a mix of professional support and personal wisdom. If you’re new here, thanks for following and hopefully I’ll post a bit more this year! 😂

-Felicity 🤍

This. ☝🏼

I don’t care how you want (or need) to feed your baby. Breast, expressed, formula, bottles, syringes, or a convo of all! No judgement here.

What I do care about is you feeling like you have someone in your corner. Your cheerleader. Your constant and consistent provider of evidence based information. Your personal myth buster (because let’s face it, there are a lot of myths out there!)

If you feel this way after our appt, I’ve done my job.

🤍 Let’s talk attachment! 🤍

‘Position & attachment’, ‘fit & hold’, ‘latching on’- these are all terms used to describe how a baby latches to the breast.

There are a few things that we need to get right for attachment to be comfortable and ensure proper milk transfer. A baby can sometimes ‘appear’ to be feeding but not transferring milk well at all!

Here’s your checklist…

ᥫ᭡ Is baby stabilized by your body? That is, they don’t feel like they are falling or hanging on? Ensure the front part of their body (chest, tummy, knees/feet) are in contact with your body. If sitting up, you may find leaning back a little helps achieve this.

ᥫ᭡ Is their back (not their neck) supported by your hand? This provides pressure and a feeling of safety/ relaxation to allow baby full head movement & deep attachment.

ᥫ᭡ Is their chin barely (or not even) visible when latched on? Being able to bury their chin into your breast switches their innate feeding reflexes ON.

ᥫ᭡ Are both cheeks touching your breast? This ensures their face is symmetrical & close to the breast, preventing ni**le drag & pain.

ᥫ᭡ Is baby ‘looking over your shoulder’ when feeding (i.e. their nose is tilted off or just sitting lightly against your breast)? This ensures proper neck extension to allow the suck/swallow/breathe pattern. *Imagine trying to drink from a cup without first tilting your head back!

Supporting your baby to latch on their own, and avoiding ‘shoving’ baby onto the breast, significantly reduces ni**le pain and other bodily discomforts.

Were you taught this or shown something completely different? I’d love to know!

I know breastfeeding advice is conflicting out there, so reach out to an IBCLC if you need support & guidance. 🫶🏼

Thank you to the Mum I saw recently who has kindly allowed me to share this pic of her enjoyable, pain free latch! X

💫 Baby Edie’s birth story 💫

“My partner and I attended Felicity’s March hypnobirthing class and loved it. It was the perfect mix of evidenced based information and practical tips.
Our birthing plans took an unexpected turn when I was hospitalized with preeclampsia at 35 weeks. I credit the breathing and visualization exercises for helping us stay calm and collected while we navigated the next steps for our baby’s birth. I ended up being induced at 37 weeks and was able to gently labor to fully dilated using the Hypnobirthing techniques. Plus all the back rubs from my partner didn’t hurt! Our beautiful daughter entered the world and was welcomed by calm and collected parents thanks to everything we learnt during our time with Felicity. Eden Rose Nitschke born 6/5/25. X”

Shared with permission 🩷

Ingrid & Luke came along to my group class back in 2021 when they were expecting their first bubba. This beautiful message came through after the birth of their second baby, Lottie, yesterday morning 🩷

Thank you to Ingrid for sharing your story 🫶🏼

“Our beautiful baby Lottie arrived in the most magical calm birth on Wednesday early morning.

The tens was magic, I laboured so calmly and Lottie and I (and Luke) worked together magically to bring her into the world in such a beautiful birth. So positive and redeeming. Only just made it to the bath in time (with it still filling) for the fetal ejection reflex and she was earthside!”

🩷🩷🩷

Private postnatal/ lactation home visits with me just got a while lot more affordable!! 🙌🏼

Medicare has increased the rebate for a postnatal attendance from $76.10 to $158.75.

This is HUGE, meaning more women can access lactation support/ private postnatal midwifery care in their homes.

*Remember this applies to Mums of babies that are under 7 weeks of age. After this time, no Medicare rebate applies.

Please reach out for support and let me help you on your feeding/ parenting journey! 🫶🏼

📸

In a nutshell, an endorsed Midwife is a registered Midwife who has gone on to further their training, skills & scope of practice. This includes the ability to:

🫧 care for women privately (independent of the hospital system)
🫧 prescribe medications
🫧 order tests (i.e. blood tests/ ultrasounds)
🫧 access the PBS for medications
🫧 provide Medicare rebatable services

I am an endorsed midwife, and I have chosen to specialise my midwifery care in the postnatal period. This is why I am able to provide Medicare rebates for home visits and telehealth appointments. 👊🏼

If you need lactation support, this falls under a midwife scope of practice, therefore attracts a Medicare rebate. However if you just want to see me to discuss other postnatal issues or want reassurance in the early postpartum phase, I can see you for that too. It can be whatever you need it to be!

Medicare rebates apply until baby is 6w6d old and you can have as many visits/ appointments as you like.

Get in touch if you would like to book something in 💗

Medicare rebates for lactation support is finally here! 🎉🙌🏼💵

After 2024 brought a few little unexpected hurdles and bumps my way (🥴) and slowed down my plans a little, I am extremely happy to announce that I am now taking postnatal lactation bookings which are claimable through Medicare!

I really believe that private lactation support needs to be more affordable, but at the same time sustainable for the practitioner. This is where my services come in!

As an endorsed midwife & lactation consultant IBCLC who works across the continuum of maternity care, I am able to blend all of my skills and make lactation support more accessible for you!

Please message me via all the usual ways (DM, email, phone) if you’d like to book an appointment. I can’t wait to work with you! 🫶🏼

Kerryn & Calum attended a Hypnobirthing Australia™️ class with me in 2022, and welcomed their little boy Connell soon after. Recently, they invited me to their home for a refresher class before expecting baby #2! Kerryn sent me this wonderful email and she has given her permission for me to share it with you all!

Ella & Tate attended my August Hypnobirthing Australia group class expecting their first baby. 🤍 Here is the story of baby Remi’s birth (shared with permission) 💕

“Hey Felicity!!
I’ve been meaning to message you to tell you that our beautiful little miss Remi Ann Porter arrived on 30/10/24 @ 0530am! She weighed 3.5kg - 7 pound 14 oz, 51cm long.
After my water broke at 12am it was all go and ramped up quite quickly. We headed to the hospital at 4am, I was 8cm, got in the birthing pool and she was born bang on 5:30! I couldn’t be happier with the experience we had. The hypnobirthing techniques were so valuable for not only myself but for Tate. I truly believe I was able to manifest my dream birth by practicing all of the techniques to get into a positive mindset. What a surreal feeling it was! We are over the moon with our experience. 🥰”