My first son was born at Pembury Hospital just outside Tunbridge Wells in 1995 , 6 weeks premature (34 weeks gestation) by Emergency LSCS (Lower Segment Caesarean Section) and weighed 6lb. He spent the first weeks of life in SCBU and had to be fed via a nasogastric (NG) tube initially and establishing breastfeeding was a struggle. It was psychologically difficult for my wife at the time in addition to the physical recovery process from major abdomial surgery. There was also the trauma of being rushed to the hospital by ambulance after haemorrhaging at work due to an undiagnosed placenta praevia. It was ‘touch and go’ from the beginning.

The feeding journey for my second wife and son JD could not have been more different. He was born at 9lb 3oz naturally at home post term (at 42 weeks gestation) with long fingernails in the caul with no medical intervention whatsoever- in fact I had to deliver him and remove the caul from his face so that he could take his first breath! The Consultant Midwife from St Mary’s Hospital London arrived by car with a colleague shortly after his birth. She had a flat tyre on her car and i had to change the wheel for her where she had parked in the street with her London wide parking permit! So my two good deeds for that day in 2004 were ticked off :-)

THE MOMENTS WHEN WE BONDED AS A 3 IN OUR OWN HOME IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE BIRTH BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE MIDWIFE OR ANY MEDICS WAS A UNIQUE AND VERY SPECIAL TIME AND A ‘PEAK LIFE EXPERIENCE’

These two starkly contracting experinces of birth and infant feeding piqued my inetrest in the field.

I had always had an interest in Paediatric Osteopathy and Osteopathic Obstetrics paricularly after about 15 years in pratice but gradually the sub-specialim of infant feeding naturally becaame the focus of my work