"It all comes back to the first breastfeed." ~ Dr Robyn Thompson
Three minutes with the midwife who spent 25 years inside the hospital system, 25 years outside it, and proved what the difference costs.
Dr Robyn Thompson PhD OAM 50 Years a Midwife
(3.40 min watch time)
The question that started it.
Early in her career, Dr Robyn Thompson was the midwife in charge of a public hospital labour ward. After 25 years, she was invited to attend a home birth, and it taught her a whole new dimension of trusting women giving birth.
It wasn't until she started her own private practice that she began to observe breastfeeding complications with women being discharged from hospital, that she was not observing with the women in her care.
Same bodies. Same bodies. Different environments.
This prompted her to ask "Why was this happening?" and it became the basis of her PhD research, tested at the Mater Mothers' Hospital, QLD, Australia.
The healthy newborn needs two to three 'unhurried' hours.
That is the first breastfeed, and Dr Robyn refers to it as the 3 Golden Hours. Anything that intervenes, interrupts or delays those hours increases the risk of painful breastfeeding complications, and can shape a woman's entire breastfeeding journey.
- The Cascade of Intervention, during labour
It often begins with a recommendation to induce the healthy mother and baby as a way of 'speeding' up her labour with synthetic drugs and other invasive procedures. This increases the risk of further interventions, often leading to C-Section, which has risen from 32% in 2010 to 41% in 2023, with some private hospitals reporting as high as 48%. - Mother Baby Separation, immediately after birth
Weighing, checking, injecting the healthy newborn within minutes of birth. These are non-urgent procedures, all of which can wait. - Forceful Techniques, on the postnatal ward
Often due to unrealistic time constraints, hospital staff are under pressure to 'get the women breastfeeding' before discharge, leading to forceful techniques. In Dr Robyn's PhD research, these forceful techniques nearly double the risk of painful nipple trauma.
Prevention is the only lever nobody has pulled.
Every dollar the world spends on breastfeeding is spent downstream. After the damage, after the tears, after the pain. Lactation consultants, helplines, clinics, rescue. All of it necessary. None of it early enough. Dr Robyn spent fifty years building the prevention lever. It sits before the birth, in a woman's own hands.
★ The Thompson Method - The Care
★ My Milk Map - Her Daily Companion
★ The Infant Feeding Index - Measuring the Outcomes
Peer reviewed: Impact of The Thompson Method on breastfeeding exclusivity and duration. Multi-method design at the Mater Mothers' Hospital, Queensland, Australia. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2023. Read the study. More than 100,000 mothers and professionals supported worldwide since 2018.
Talk it through with Joanne.
Chat with Joanne Thompson, daughter of Dr Robyn Thompson, and custodian of The Thompson Method
No forms and no calendars. Email or call, ask anything, and learn more about this important mission.
Email: joanne@thethompsonmethod.com
Mobile: +61 419 315 948 (WhatsApp)
Dr Robyn Thompson, created the solution. With your help and support, we can take it to the world
