about
“Postpartum is a time to slow down so you can hear your baby’s whisper: Mama, you are enough. Just as you are.”
Belinda Acott
(Founder of Mama Folk)
About Mama Folk
Here at Mama Folk, we envision a world where new families feel supported – both postpartum and beyond – to navigate their parenting journey with a sense of connection, confidence and joy; and where children feel free to experience childhood as a time of warmth, wonder and rest, especially from the work of attachment. We believe this is key to bringing peace into our hearts, our homes, and our humanity; and yet, in our fast-paced, modern world, there seems so little time for this.
We are here to change this.
Rather than expecting newborn mothers to “bounce-back” as quickly as possible after birth, our offerings invite them to carve out time and space to fully recover from birth and embrace the huge life transition that follows. Rather than encouraging families to invest in products or services aimed at the premature independence of their babies, we support them to invite their children into deep connection and help them to trust that they will mature naturally when the time is right.
We believe that postpartum is the time to create a slower, more nurturing environment from which a deeply connected family can grow.
Why Postpartum Matters
Cultural anthropologists who have studied postpartum care around the world have found that in many cultures, women gather around a newborn mama to protect this sacred time of recovery and rest. While customs vary, almost all include five essential elements: extended rest (including a retreat from the responsibilities of everyday life), special nourishment, warmth, body work, and community support.
While these might sound like luxuries in today’s fast paced world, they’re really not. Warm, loving postpartum care is a fundamental need – it safeguards the wellbeing of both mother and baby and protects against many of the physical, emotional, and relational challenges that can emerge later on.
Unfortunately, in modern, capitalistic cultures, friends and family are more likely to bring gifts for the baby postpartum as opposed to offering continued care for mum. Once the initial excitement of the birth fades, many mothers find themselves alone for long stretches of time – and too often, postpartum depression sets in.
As Ayurvedic Doula and Postpartum Educator, Ysha Oakes reminds us, however:
“After birth there’s a sacred window of time. A time for complete rejuvenation of a woman’s physical, mental and spiritual health. A time for deep, extended bonding with her newborn. The first 42 days after birth set the stage for her next 42 years.”
Ysha Oakes
Our culture may no longer guide women through this sacred rite of passage – but that doesn’t mean we can’t reclaim it. We have the right to choose care that honours our hearts, our babies, and our relationships. And often, all we need to make this happen is a little bit of education around what it is we need, together with the confidence to ask.
A nourishing postpartum period doesn’t need to cost you a fortune, and actually, doesn’t need to cost much at all. In a culture that spends tens of thousands of dollars on weddings, the financial cost of a nurturing postpartum season is minimal, yet the long term impact on relationships is huge.
If you’d like to learn more about postpartum care, how these five elements support a new mother, and how you can weave them into your own postpartum plan, then please download this free guide that I’ve created for you.
“IF YOU WAIT UNTIL EVERYTHING IS PERFECT, THE TIME WILL NEVER COME”
My journey into motherhood
Hi there, I’m Belinda.
Before becoming a mum, I spent most of my adult life teaching and travelling abroad. This journey took me from the classrooms of England to a hippie commune in Denmark; from a village in Mozambique to a hitchhiking adventure in Morocco; and from a refugee community in Malaysia to the NGOs of Cambodia.
It was here in the Cambodian rice fields – sitting with a friend and her adorable little boy – that I felt the call to become a mother. Not long after, my husband and I became pregnant. We had no stable home, no permanent jobs, and no postpartum plan! But, as my friend told me that day: If you wait until everything is perfect, the time will never come.
What did come, however, was morning sickness… and an awful heatwave! I spent the next few months in 40- degree heat, vomiting in toilets next to bins filled with soiled paper and menstrual blood. Unable to work full days, I reduced my hours and spent the afternoons in an air-conditioned bedroom, eating whatever my husband would slip through the door. It was during this time that I began to turn inward, in awe of the little human who was growing inside.
In October 2016, I gave birth to our beautiful son in Melbourne. We lived between the homes of my mum, my grandma and my nan – a gift that I will be forever grateful for. In contrast, I remember meeting mums who were spending long days alone with their babies, and thinking how hard that must be. What I also came to realise was that most of these mums were used to living scheduled and efficient lives and that their babies had turned this upside down! I was used to the unpredictability of life abroad which made caring for a newborn feel like yet another adventure. It saddened me that others were finding it so tough.
Two years later, after traipsing through Cambodia, Peru and Mexico with our son nestled to our hearts, we returned to Australia, pregnant once again. Our darling daughter was born in January 2019 while we were living with my dad. This time, I found myself surrounded by 60 acres of nothingness for most of the day. With a toddler and a newborn, I felt torn and exhausted. Our little boy – who I had never had a bad thought about before – suddenly seemed a threat to our new baby. I knew nothing about navigating big feelings, supporting his transition, or the need for my own postpartum care. I was completely overwhelmed yet also grateful to have the support of my dad.
Adapting to Bendigo and the Australian way of life in the years that followed was hard. I felt constantly pulled between my instinct to keep my children close and society’s pressure to push them away. Decisions around kinder and school came sooner than I was ready and life became increasingly fast paced.
Through a lot of research, some courses and somatic-based therapy, I began to connect with people in a new and different way. Eventually, I found my local people – sisters to circle with and a homeschooling community to support me in keeping my kids close. This made a world of difference!
It now feels important for me to help others find their people too, and to help mamas navigate the early parenting years. It can be isolating and hard, and I don’t think it needs to be. There’s a lot we can do to support each other as women, and often that ‘a lot’ is actually very little.
Sometimes all we need is to be heard.
Whether you’re a first time mama or someone with more kids than me, I would love to support you as you navigate your postpartum journey. If you’d like to connect, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I would love to hear from you.
Warmly,
Belinda
Qualifications:
- Master of Education (by research) (Deakin University)
- Bachelor of Teaching – Secondary/Arts (Deakin University)
- Graduate Certificate of Careers Education & Development (RMIT University)
- Postpartum Education & Care Professional Training (Newborn Mothers)
- Motherhood Studies Certification (Dr. Sophie Brock)
- Village Tenders Postpartum Community Care (Community Supported Postpartum)
- Neufeld Intensive I & II + Making Sense of Marriage (Neufeld Institute)
- Essentials of Steiner Education & Development (Heart Spaces)
- Aware Parenting Instructor Training (Marion Rose)
- WomanSpeak Circle Leader (WomanSpeak)