The Baby Tribe Blog

There is a sentence from a recent inquest in Australia that has stayed with me. A birthkeeper, who had been hired by a woman who later died after giving birth at home, told a coroner that she was “not there to make a birth safer.” That sentence is chilling because it exposes the central problem in the freebirth world: The gap between influence and responsibility.

On March 12–14, Holly Christine Callaghan and I will open an exhibition called Motherhood at The Copper House Gallery in Dublin (Dublin 8, D08 EE73). Opening Night: Thursday March 12, 6 pm to 9 pm (with wine reception) Friday March 13: 10 am to 4 pm Saturday March 14: 10 am to 4 pm It didn’t begin as a grand plan. It began with a phone call. Holly and I met through art years ago. Not medicine. Not the podcast. Art. She knew me as someone who painted before she knew I worked in neonatal intensive care.

Every year a big national report drops on maternity care in Ireland. It is called the Irish Maternity Indicator System report, or IMIS for short. It is 90 plus pages of graphs, rates per thousand, and enough acronyms to tranquilise an entire antenatal class. Last week the 2024 IMIS National Report landed. Headlines did what headlines do. Nearly half of babies in some hospitals born by caesarean. Inductions up. Risks up.

Every year on 17 November, we take time to reflect, raise awareness, and honour the fragile lives that began too soon. World Prematurity Day reminds us that prematurity is not just a statistic. It is a story of resilience, of families facing the unexpected, of tiny fighters and their brave parents. The Irish scene: what the numbers tell us In Ireland, the situation is both sobering and inspiring.

It is understandable that many parents are anxious about the potential effects of pain relief in labour, particularly epidurals. Over the past decade, social media has amplified a wide range of claims about how epidurals might influence newborns, from being “too sleepy” at birth to having long-term developmental differences. These statements are often made with conviction, but conviction alone does not equal evidence.

Scaremongering about paracetamol use in pregnancy is everywhere at the moment. Parents hear snippets on social media, see headlines about “links to autism,” and are left wondering if something as ordinary as a painkiller could really harm their baby. Let’s slow down and look carefully at what the science actually tells us. The Swedish Sibling Study Sweden keeps detailed health records that allow researchers to follow entire populations over decades.

Introduction Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is back in the conversation. Like my other examples, it is a vaccine preventable illness, yet cases have been rising here and abroad. That makes it a real worry for parents of newborns and young infants, because the youngest babies are the ones who get the sickest. This piece explains what pertussis looks like, how it spreads, how to protect a baby, and what to do if exposure happens.

Introduction Every parent’s heart skips a beat at sudden jerks, pauses in breathing or odd postures in a tiny baby. You worry about seizures. Most of those scary moments are not epilepsy. Babies have a host of brief, repetitive events that look alarming yet pose no long-term harm. Knowing what’s normal and when to seek help can turn panic into calm confidence. Recognizing Normal vs Concerning Movements Babies move in quirky ways. Eyes flicker, limbs twitch, breathing shifts.

Get your tickets here! If you’ve ever tuned in to the Baby Tribe podcast and thought, “I wish I could be right there in the room when they tell that story,” this is your moment. On September 3rd at 8 pm, we’re bringing the full Baby Tribe Live experience to Smock Alley in Dublin. Expect big laughs, candid parenting confessions, and the kind of belly-aching true stories you’ve come to love, only now, you’ll be in the front row.

When a heatwave hits, parents of young infants often face a daunting challenge: how to keep their baby safe, comfortable, and cool at home. In the UK and Ireland, where residential air conditioning is uncommon and homes are built to retain heat, this can be especially tricky during unexpected hot spells. Babies under 6 months are particularly vulnerable to overheating, their tiny bodies aren’t yet good at regulating temperature and they can’t tell us when they’re too hot.