As a mum of three herself, Lucy Newton understands only too well the importance of preparing for the postpartum period. She is passionate about helping expectant mums step into motherhood feeling knowledgeable, empowered and ready for this beautiful change. She strongly believes that women should be educated on what to expect and the changes a baby will bring, and that being prepared will reduce the anxiety that is so often seen today. At What Life’s Like with a Baby, she has created a self-paced course designed to lessen the overwhelm that the unknown territory of motherhood can bring. She takes your hand and guides you every step of the way from day zero of motherhood to three months. Here Lucy talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind her business, the challenges she has overcome, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Being a mother of 3 I have had varied postpartum experiences. My first was over a decade ago, my second felt like the first time again after a 6-year gap and my third was during the beginning of Covid lockdowns, a “lockdown baby” as they’re now known. Through the years, I have become friends with and met many mums, including online, and I found that we were all saying the same thing: “Why does no one tell you what it’s really like when you have a baby?”. I also have a background in midwifery. Before I had my children, and even back then, part of me was wondering why there was so much teaching on pregnancy and labour and very little on the postpartum journey and motherhood.
It was with this questioning and personal experience of not knowing what I was doing that I dreamt of the idea of being able to help the next generation of mums by sharing my experiences with them. I feel the modern world has lost that community-style living and so vital information on raising children and transforming into a mother has faded. I now have such a passion to try and bring that back, but with a modern twist!
What if being more prepared for postpartum can actually help reduce occurrences of anxiety, overwhelm and depression? Isn’t that an ultimate goal to achieve!
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I am a relatively new business, launched this February 2023. The idea began around a year before this and it was a bit like a eureka moment as I knew I had wanted to create a business of my own for a long time, but never knew what it would be. I was watching Tony Robbins speak about business one day when he said, go into business doing something you’re good at and do already. Then the idea hit me: I can help women become mums as I know there is such little support out there!
I spent the initial months reflecting on my experiences, talking to other m ums and gathering research through questionnaires and slowly my concept started to grow. Once I had a plan for my modules, I began researching current guidelines and recommendations as the purpose of my course is to provide evidence-based information alongside the honest realities of raw motherhood. I am a registered nurse by profession so I was able to utilise my research skills to ensure that my teachings are safe. I started to pitch my idea to family, friends and online and the positive response and encouragement was overwhelming.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
For me, the biggest breakthrough was realising that what we as women need to be taught in order for us to feel prepared was actually something so simple and something that we can do whilst pregnant. Once I had the idea, I couldn’t believe why there aren’t more things like this out there to reach as many women as possible. The thought of being able to prepare women for what to realistically expect, before the baby arrives, instead of being thrown in at the deep end, I just find deeply exciting! It is certainly something I wish I had before my babies were born.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Having 3 children, a husband, 3 chickens and a cat, life is busy! I also still work part time as a nurse but I am incredibly lucky as I work from home in an admin role. It is because of this I was able to dream up my business in the first place. I try to have strict work hours when the kids are at school and then I may squeeze in extra hours after the children’s bedtime if needed. It is important to me to create that work life balance, as life is for living and making memories and with this business giving me time to reflect on my early motherhood days, it was just a stark reminder of how fast time goes and so I am making effort to ensure I am present with my children, soaking in all the chaos!
