Breaking the taboo with Theo Clarke

This week our host, Theo Clarke, is joined by Heidi Eldridge, CEO and Founder of MAMA Academy, and Professor Alexander Heazell, Consultant Obstetrician and Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Manchester, to discuss how to have a safer pregnancy and the vital steps needed to prevent stillbirths.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: how to have a safer pregnancy; the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle and its impact; why monitoring babies’ movements is so important; what parents should expect when reporting reduced or changed fetal movements; warning signs and symptoms that should never be ignored during pregnancy; how parents can advocate for themselves if they feel unheard; specialist support through Rainbow Clinics for families pregnant after loss; and what government action is needed to transform maternity care and prevent avoidable stillbirths.
BIOGRAPHIES
Heidi Eldridge is the Founder and CEO of MAMA Academy, a UK pregnancy charity dedicated to preventing stillbirth and improving maternity outcomes. Since its launch in 2012, MAMA Academy has partnered with two-thirds of NHS Trusts, reaching hundreds of thousands of expectant parents each year through education, support packs and awareness campaigns. Heidi is an award-winning campaigner whose work has contributed to a sustained reduction in stillbirth rates across the UK.
Professor Alexander Heazell is Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Manchester and Director of the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre. He is also a Consultant Obstetrician at Saint Mary’s Hospital and leads national research into placental disease, maternity safety and pregnancy after loss, including the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle and specialist Rainbow Clinics.
Don’t suffer in silence! Listen in and let’s break the final taboo in women’s health #breakingthetaboo.This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
RESOURCES:
Tommy’s: https://www.tommys.org/
MAMA Academy: https://www.mamaacademy.org.uk/
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice – please seek advice from a GP or doctor.www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Breaking The Taboo production team
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max AustinDesigner: Emily Ryder
Social Media: Bella Carter
Studio Manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55, part of Wolfe Power Club


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theodoraclarke.substack.com

This week our host, Theo Clarke, is joined by Helen Ledwick to discuss life after prolapse, pelvic health, and recovery following childbirth.
Topics discussed on the show include: Helen’s experience of a third-degree tear and subsequent prolapse; recognising symptoms and seeking diagnosis; the importance of pelvic health physiotherapy; pelvic floor exercises and treatments; managing incontinence; the impact of prolapse on confidence and intimacy; the effects of menopause on pelvic health; and the urgent need for better antenatal education and postnatal support.
BIOGRAPHY
Helen Ledwick is the voice behind Why Mums Don’t Jump, a podcast breaking the taboo around pelvic floor problems after childbirth. Drawing on her own experience of pelvic organ prolapse, the journalist brings together powerful personal stories and expert insight to help women navigate incontinence, prolapse and pelvic pain with clarity and compassion.
Her ‘groundbreaking’ book, Why Mums Don’t Jump: Ending the Pelvic Floor Taboo, builds on her British Podcast Award–winning show, which has also grown into a vibrant Instagram community where women feel informed, empowered and hopeful.
Theo Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Stafford. She chaired the first parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in British history and previously set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. She won Speech of the Year at the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and was included in the prestigious Top 100 Women in Westminster list in 2025 and 2024. Theo hosts the hit podcast ‘Breaking the Taboo’ which ranks in the Top 5 most listened to shows in the UK for alternative health and a book club at ‘A Thread of One’s Own’. She has also published a memoir ‘Breaking the Taboo: why we need to talk about birth trauma‘.
Follow @whymumsdontjump @theoclarkemp
Don’t suffer in silence! Listen in and let’s break the final taboo in women’s health #breakingthetaboo.
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice – please seek advice from a GP or doctor.
www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Breaking The Taboo production team
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social Media: Bella Carter
Studio Manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55, part of Wolfe Power Club


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theodoraclarke.substack.com

This week our host and former MP, Theo Clarke, is joined by Rosie Taylor, award-winning journalist specialising in women’s health, to discuss the UK government’s current national maternity and neonatal investigation.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: why the National Maternity & Neonatal Investigation is happening; the recent Call for Evidence; how listeners can get involved and share their experiences; what happens next and the Maternity Taskforce; Baroness Amos’s approach; delays and what campaigners and families think; and Rosie’s personal perspective as someone living with postnatal PTSD.
Biographies:
Rosie Taylor is an award-winning journalist reporting on women’s health and family life in the UK. She writes for national news publications like The Times, The i Paper, The Telegraph and The Independent, and shares news updates on social media on women’s health and NHS maternity care. You can follow Rosie on Instagram or TikTok.
Theo Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Stafford. She chaired the first parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in British history and previously set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. She won Speech of the Year at the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and was included in the prestigious Top 100 Women in Westminster list in 2025 and 2024. Theo hosts the hit podcast ‘Breaking the Taboo’ which ranks in the Top 5 most listened to shows in the UK for alternative health and a book club at ‘A Thread of One’s Own’. She has also published a memoir ‘Breaking the Taboo: why we need to talk about birth trauma‘.
Don’t suffer in silence! Listen in and let’s break the final taboo in women’s health #breakingthetaboo.
Resources:
Call for Evidence: http://www.matneoinv.org.uk/call-for-evidence/
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice – please seek advice from a GP or doctor.
Website: https://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Breaking The Taboo production team:
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researchers: Max Austin
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social Media: Bella Carter
Studio Manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55, part of Wolfe Power Club


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theodoraclarke.substack.com

This week our host, Theo Clarke, is joined by Lyanne Nicholl, campaigner, writer and author of Your Postnatal Body: A top-to-toe guide to caring for yourself after pregnancy and birth, to discuss postnatal health and recovery after birth.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: postnatal health and physical recovery after birth; access to women’s health physiotherapists and why they are essential; maternal health checks within the first year postpartum; coping with miscarriage; difficulties breastfeeding; recovery from caesarean section; postnatal recovery and perimenopause; and challenging the damaging myth of the “superwoman” or “supermum”.
BIOGRAPHY
Lyanne Nicholl is a campaigner, writer and author with almost two decades of experience working in the not-for-profit sector as both a leader and consultant. After experiencing poor postnatal care herself, Lyanne became a leading advocate for improved maternal health services in the UK. Her campaigning contributed to the reintroduction of the maternal postnatal check into GP contracts and to progress on ensuring all new mothers can access women’s health physiotherapy.
Lyanne is CEO of 50:50 Parliament and regularly writes about women’s health, equality and policy for outlets including The HuffPost, Grazia, The Independent and Stylist. Her book, Your Postnatal Body: A top-to-toe guide to caring for yourself after pregnancy and birth, offers practical, evidence-based guidance on recovery and long-term health after pregnancy and birth.
You can follow Lyanne on social media at @ThatLyanne on X, Instagram. Her book is available from Amazon, Waterstones, and Montag & Martin Limited.
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice – please seek advice from a GP or doctor.
www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Breaking The Taboo production team
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social Media: Bella Carter
Studio Manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55, part of Wolfe Power Club


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theodoraclarke.substack.com

Trigger warning: This episode contains discussions of suicide.
This week our host, Theo Clarke, is joined by Laura Kyrke-Smith MP, the Labour Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, and Nigel Middlemiss, her late friend Sophie’s father, to discuss maternal suicide, the devastating impact on families, and the urgent need for better perinatal mental health support in the UK.
Laura has been campaigning for improved awareness, assessment and support for perinatal mental health following the tragic loss of her close friend Sophie, who died by suicide ten weeks after the birth of her third child. Laura recently introduced a Private Members’ Bill to Parliament, which called for every pregnant woman to receive a structured mental health assessment as part of routine antenatal care - legislation often referred to as Sophie’s Law. In this episode, Sophie’s father Nigel also speaks movingly about his daughter, the impact of her death on their family, and his determination to support Laura’s Bill to help prevent other families from experiencing the same devastation.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: asking the right questions of new mothers who may be feeling suicidal; identifying danger signals and risk factors for maternal suicide; why many women struggle to admit they are not coping; challenges around breastfeeding and anxiety; gaps in postnatal GP support and follow-up appointments; bereavement counselling for families; the impact on other children; and what families, clinicians and policymakers can do to help prevent maternal suicide.
BIOGRAPHIES
Laura Kyrke-Smith MP is the Labour Member of Parliament for Aylesbury. She serves as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Prior to entering Parliament, Laura was the UK Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee, worked in the Foreign Office under the last Labour Government. Her advocacy on perinatal mental health is deeply personal, shaped by the loss of her friend Sophie, and she is leading parliamentary efforts to improve mental health assessment and support for pregnant and postnatal women.
Nigel Middlemiss is a former teacher of English with the British Council overseas, a textbook author with Oxford University Press, former editor at the British Nuclear Forum and director at Echo Research. Following the death of his daughter Sophie, Nigel has become a passionate advocate for improved perinatal mental health care and for backing Laura Kyrke-Smith MP’s Bill to prevent further loss of life.
MBRRACE Report: Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care 2025 - Lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2021-23 | MBRRACE-UK | NPEU
Sands briefing on Maternal Mental Health (2025): Briefing from Sands - Westminster Hall Debate on Maternal Mental Health 05.02.25.pdf
MMHA: Home | Maternal Mental Health Alliance
PANDAS: pandasfoundation.org.uk
Perinatal Mental Health Assessment Bill:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/guest_posts/5431502-guest-post-why-every-pregnant-and-new-mum-deserves-mental-health-support-my-bill-for-change
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice – please seek advice from a GP or doctor.
www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Breaking The Taboo production team
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researchers: Max Austin
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social Media: Bella Carter
Studio Manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55, part of Wolfe Power Club


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theodoraclarke.substack.com