mumabuba, 69 Marathon Street, Proserpine (2026)

19/08/2026

I’m honoured to have been invited to sit on the live panel following the Mackay screening of Allowed to Birth next month. 💜

I’m especially excited to be sharing the panel with Ruth Coast midwife , Siobhan Your Outback Midwife and Nakia Watters.

I love that screenings like this can be so much more than simply watching a documentary. They create an opportunity to come together, hear different perspectives, ask questions and have the conversations that can sometimes be difficult to have elsewhere.

Over the years, I’ve been involved in a number of birth documentary screenings, including hosting screenings in Sydney as fundraisers. I’ve seen how powerful these films can be in helping women realise that they are not alone in what they have experienced - and in opening up wider conversations about maternity care.

We’ve also seen that these conversations can create real momentum for change. The NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry was initiated following the screening of Birth Time several years ago.

Allowed to Birth follows midwife and educator Kristine Lauria as she explores the global maternal health crisis and asks what it would take to make childbirth safer, more humane and more empowering for all.

Featuring leading voices from the birth world, including Dr Melanie Jackson (who some of you may recognise as the midwife behind The Great Birth Rebellion), Dr Stu Fischbein, Kemi Johnson and many more.

I’m really looking forward to watching the film and then being part of the conversation afterwards with Ruth, Siobhan and Nakia.

What conversations will this film spark for us? What questions will be raised? And where do we go from here?

I’d love to see a strong turnout from our Whitsunday and Mackay communities - particularly women and families who want to be informed, connected and part of the conversation about the future of maternity care.

🎥 Mackay screening of Allowed to Birth
📅 13th September - 4-6pm
📍 BCC Cinema, Mount Pleasant, Mackay
https://www.facebook.com/events/2714609422267856

Who’s coming?
Tag a woman, family or birth worker who you think should be in the room.

And to my fellow panellists - I’m looking forward to sharing this conversation with you all. 💜

12/08/2026

Today is Middle Child Day - and if you're a middle child, you've probably heard the story before: overlooked, squeezed between the oldest and the baby, left to fend for yourself while everyone else gets the attention.
It's a story a lot of people believe. But it turns out the research doesn't really back it up.
A large study published in late 2024, using data from over 700,000 people, looked at how personality actually differs by birth order. The "neglected middle child" idea didn't hold up. What did show up, consistently, was something much nicer - middle children (along with youngest children) tended to score slightly higher on kindness, cooperation and humility than firstborns. Growing up negotiating between siblings, sharing, compromising, mediating - it turns out that shapes something real. The middle child who steps in to smooth over an argument or hands over their toy without being asked isn't the overlooked one. They're often the one holding things together.
So if you're a middle child, maybe it's time to retire the "forgotten one" story. The evidence points to something better.
Are you a middle child? Or is there a middle child in your family holding down the peace right now? Tell us where you sit in the birth order - and if it fits.

05/08/2026

Something I've learned after years of supporting new mums: the babies I see in the first few days after birth, before things have gone wrong, very often don't go on to need much help at all.

It's not because those mums are lucky, or because their babies are "easy." It's because confidence in breastfeeding - real, lasting confidence - is built early, and it's built by a few specific things happening at the right time.

Getting the latch working well in those first days matters, not just for comfort, but because every good feed teaches a mother's body and her baby's body that this works. Small wins early on build belief, the same way anything difficult becomes easier once you've done it well a few times.

Seeing other women breastfeed matters too. It's one of the reasons I love our Breastfeeding Circle - mums often come along while they're still pregnant, before their own baby has even arrived, just to watch, ask questions, and take in how normal and varied breastfeeding actually looks. That kind of quiet, ordinary exposure does something that no amount of reading or googling can.

And the words used around a new mother matter more than people realise. Reassurance that's specific and honest builds confidence. Vague reassurance, or being told something different by every person she asks, chips away at it.

This is why I don't wait for a problem to show up before I see a mum. Support in the first days - while things are still forming, not after they've already gone wrong - changes the whole trajectory. It's not about fixing something broken. It's about helping something work well from the start.

If you're expecting, or your baby is only days old, I'd love to see you early - whether that's a one-on-one visit, or simply coming along to a Breastfeeding Circle to watch, listen, and know what's ahead. Our breastfeeding circle is on every Thursday and is free to attend.

Message me or visit my website to book a discovery call to see how I can support you and your breastfeeding journey.

31/07/2026

"From my very first interaction with Jo at mumabuba, she has been nothing short of amazing. I reached out to her in the early weeks of my third pregnancy, having just moved to the area. She welcomed me to the breastfeeding group, and even though I wasn't quite breastfeeding yet, I didn't hesitate to go along. I was hoping to meet some like-minded mums and, along with Jo, I found invaluable support and friendship.

When I heard about the benefits of reflexology, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about how Jo could support me through pregnancy and birth. I booked a one-on-one consultation and was amazed at the relief I felt from my symphysis p***s pain, back pain, and all the usual pregnancy aches and discomforts. We also took time before birth to prepare both my mind and body for my "easy, quick, and pain-free birth." I was certainly thanking Jo when my dream birth became a reality.

After the birth of my son, we were quick to book another appointment to release the physical trauma and nervous system imprints he was holding from his birth - which was an amazing and emotional experience.

Thanks to everything I had learned in the breastfeeding group, I felt confident and equipped in those early postpartum days. I didn't need to stress or spend time googling "is this normal?"

Although getting out of the house with a newborn was overwhelming at times, mumabuba quickly became the safe, comforting space I needed. It truly feels like home. Jo and mumabuba are a true gift to all mums - trying, expecting, and postpartum, in the Whitsunday community. "
Airlee

Message me if you are trying to conceive, pregnant or in the postpartum period to see how I can support you. 💜

27/07/2026

"Jo's solids class was absolutely incredible! I honestly can't recommend it highly enough. The amount of knowledge and insight she shared was phenomenal, and everything was explained in such a supportive, relatable and easy to understand way. She completely shifted my perspective on introducing food to my little one, in ways I totally didn't expect. Prior to her solids class, I was feeling really scared, nervous and overwhelmed, however afterwards I walked away feeling empowered, confident and genuinely SO excited to begin our solids journey. As a first time mum, that shift in how I felt was absolutely invaluable."

That's from a mum who came along to a recent Baby First Foods class - and it's exactly why I do this work. If you've started looking into solids, you'll know the feeling. Somewhere it says start at 4 months, somewhere else 6. One source says purée only, another says skip purée completely. Rice cereal, pear, apple - held up as the "perfect" first foods, with nobody mentioning that starting too early, before your baby's body is ready, can actually raise the risk of choking rather than lower it. And when you do land on solid information, it often reads as a strict list of rules - must do this, only this food at this time - which leaves you feeling like you're following instructions instead of learning your own baby. I help women work through all of that. Instead of a rigid checklist, we look at what your baby's development and gut are actually telling you, so you're working with them rather than forcing something onto them. That's what lets parents relax into this stage and actually enjoy it, instead of second-guessing every spoonful - and when a baby isn't sensing stress or pressure around food, they build genuinely positive associations with eating from day one, which carries through into how they eat for years to come.

I've just released the last two dates of the year:
Thursday 27 August - ideal for babies born Feb to April
Thursday 15 October - ideal for babies born April to June

If solids still feels miles away, it's worth grabbing your spot now anyway - book it, know it's sorted, and forget about it until it's closer.
Spaces are limited (max 6 per class) and August already has bookings in. Small group. Space to ask real questions. Real understanding of your baby's gut health, developmental readiness and food psychology - not just a list of what to buy at the supermarket. Investment $50.

Here are the links to the events
August - https://www.facebook.com/events/1064400525929444
October - https://www.facebook.com/events/1332728982301800

These are the last spots until 2027, so don't delay in booking your place.

23/07/2026

Tomorrow is World IVF Day. And there is something I want to talk about that doesn't come up nearly enough in the IVF conversation.

Your microbiome.
Not just the gut microbiome you've probably heard about in general health conversations - but the microbes living in your follicular fluid. The environment immediately surrounding your egg. Science has been quietly building a picture of just how much that microbial world influences the chances of successful conception, with or without IVF.

The microbiome affects implantation. It affects egg quality. It affects the conditions in which a fertilised egg either takes hold or doesn't. And yet it rarely features in the preparation conversation for women going into an IVF cycle.

There is a lot that can be done to support your microbiome before and during fertility treatment. It is not complicated, but it does require someone to have the conversation with you - and that conversation is one I have regularly with women navigating this path.

If you're preparing for IVF, or thinking about conception and wanting to understand what you can do to genuinely support your chances, feel free to send me a message.

17/07/2026

There's something that rarely makes it into the birth trauma conversation.
The reports count the costs to women. Rightly so - the physical injuries, the psychological aftermath, the years of quietly managing something that was never properly addressed. That accounting matters and it has been a long time coming.

But birth is not something that happens only to the woman.

Her partner was in that room too. And they came home carrying something they may not have been given permission to name, because the focus - again, rightly - was on her and the baby.

And something else worth considering - both of them arrived at that birth already carrying their own birth stories. Held in the body long before memory has language for it. The research on how our own beginnings shape us - including how we move through pregnancy, labour and birth - is still emerging, but it is serious science. We bring more into the birthing room than a bag and a birth plan.

And the baby.
When a birth is difficult, we look for physical injury. We check the APGAR, we watch for signs of distress, we make sure the baby is breathing. What we rarely ask is what the baby experienced - and what that experience might mean for the nervous system now doing all of its earliest wiring.

A baby doesn't store memories the way we think of them. But the body keeps its own record. The tension held in a neck that was pulled. The unsettled quality of a baby who can't be soothed. The feeding difficulties that have no obvious explanation. These are not random. They are often the body telling a story that nobody thought to listen for.

And that story, unread and unresolved, may one day walk into a birth room of its own.

$17.5 billion is the number we now have for the surface of it. The rest is still being counted.
If any of this resonates - whether you're pregnant now, newly postpartum, or still carrying something from a birth that happened years ago - feel free to send me a message. I'm here.

17/07/2026

This week is Birth Trauma Awareness Week in Australia.
And this year, for the first time, someone has put a number on it.
$17.5 billion. That is the estimated economic cost of birth injuries and trauma in Australia - healthcare, workforce impact, household expenses, and the broader cost of lives quietly reshaped by what happened in a birth suite.

It is a significant number. And it matters that it finally exists, because for a long time the argument for taking birth trauma seriously has had to rest on stories alone. Now there is data behind it.

But I keep thinking about what a number like that actually represents. Not the spreadsheet behind it - the women inside it. The ones who went home and said nothing because they didn't have the words. The partners who absorbed it alongside them. The bodies that kept going because there was a baby to feed and nobody asked how the birth had been.

Birth trauma is not rare. It is not dramatic. It often looks like a woman who seems fine.
If you'd like to read the full report, it's available at birthtrauma.org.au. And if something in this post landed somewhere close - please reach out to me.

08/07/2026

Most women who test positive for Group B Strep in pregnancy will be offered antibiotics in labour without a great deal of conversation about what that means.

There are things worth knowing about GBS - about what the test actually tells you, about what happens when antibiotics enter a labouring body and cross to a baby in the precise window the gut microbiome is forming, and about what you can do, before and after, that most women are never told.

Right now there is a three-part series running inside the mumabuba community that goes into all of it - carefully, with the research, and with space for questions.

The community is free to join, and it's a private online space for women in the Whitsundays navigating pregnancy, birth and early motherhood. If you'd like to be part of the conversation, send me a message and I'll send you the link directly.

01/07/2026

Something new is starting at mumabuba this Friday.

The Friday Huddle - a relaxed, 30-minute live conversation inside the mumabuba pregnancy & baby wellness online community. Pregnancy, birth, babies. No script, no fixed agenda. Just real talk, and space for questions.

The first one is this Friday 3rd July at 10am, and I'll be sharing some news about what's coming to mumabuba.

The Friday Huddle will run monthly, and there's always a replay if you can't make it live - but the first one feels like something worth showing up for.

The mumabuba pregnancy & baby online community is a free, private online space for women in the Whitsundays navigating conception, pregnancy, birth and early motherhood. Away from the noise of social media - professionally guided, genuinely local, and completely free to join.

If you're local and it feels like your kind of place, send me a message and I'll send you the link 💜

mumabuba

19/08/2026

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