Here at Mother&Baby, we bring together a diverse team of reputable and experienced experts from a multitude of fields to ensure that we deliver the most accurate and current advice and information. Whether you're seeking guidance on breastfeeding or looking for ways to help your little one on their potty training journey, rest assured that you have access to the latest insights and expert advice right at your fingertips.
Our panel of experts actively contribute to a range of articles and on occasion, they even lend their expertise by penning articles themselves or medically reviewing articles. Ranging from doctors, GP’s and midwives to dedicated lactation consultants, personal trainers, nutritionists, and beyond, Mother&Baby's expert panel is here to help you from conception and throughout your parenting journey.
Doctors
Dr Claudia P. Mosca
Dr Claudia P.Mosca is a board-certified obstetrician and gynaecologist and medical advisor for Flo Health, based in Berlin, Germany. She discovered her love for obstetrics and gynaecology while in medical school, thanks to an inspiring and passionate professor. After taking classes and observing prenatal appointments with high-risk pregnancy patients, it sparked an immediate interest and even fascination for the incredible transformation the female body is capable of.
Dr Shazia Malik
Dr Shazia Malik gained her medical degree in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1991. She has trained in Obstetrics in some of the largest tertiary level units in the country - her specialist training was undertaken in Cambridge, where she was also a research fellow funded by the MRC with a world-famous team looking at abnormal vessel function in women with excessively heavy periods or endometriosis.
Dr Stephanie Ooi
Dr Stephanie Ooi is a MBBS, BSc (Hons), MRCGP General Practitioner and also The Mother&Baby Mum List 2020 mum. She shares a wealth of knowledge to mums and parents about topics such as nut allergies, coronavirus and health alongside medically nutritious meal ideas. Also known as The GP Mum, she is an expert in the allergy field but covers all topics on her Instagram, sharing her experience and advice. Follow her on Instagram @drstephanieooi.
Dr Kathryn Basford
Dr Kathryn Basford studied medicine at the University of Manchester where she also completed a Masters degree in public health. She completed her GP training at Whipps Cross Hospital in London. Her specialisms include women's health and sexual health. Kathryn is currently studying for a diploma in dermatology at Cardiff University.
Dr Helena Watson
Dr Helena Watson is an obstetrics and gynaecology registrar in South London, working on the labour ward, at antenatal clinics and within gynaecology services. She is also currently undertaking a PhD in Women’s Health Research at King’s College London, and is involved in projects such as Cotfinder and QUiPP. CotFinder is an App designed to facilitate communication and transfers between neonatal/maternity units, while the QUiPP app aims to revolutionise the prediction of pre-term labour.
Dr Anita Sturnham
Dr Anita Sturnham is a highly respected and accomplished medical professional in the field of dermatology and medicine Dr. Sturnham obtained her medical degree from a prestigious institution, where she graduated with honors. She then went on to complete her specialised training in dermatology, gaining extensive knowledge and expertise in diagnosing and treating various skin conditions.
Dr Ayanthi Gunasekera
Dr Ayanthi Gunasekera is a senior obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) trainee (ST7) in North and East London at Barnet and Chase farm Hospitals NHS Trust. She has a keen interest in medical education and has a PG certificate in Medical Education.
Dr Tiffany Pham
Dr Tiffany Pham is a board-certified obstetrician and gynaecologist and medical advisor for Flo Health, based in Houston, Texas. Pham is passionate about helping women get access to necessary health services and medically-accurate health information and better understand their bodies.
Dr Laura Geige
Dr Laura Geige is a GDC registered dentist, aesthetician with level 7 qualification in medical aesthetics, an assessor, clinical trainer, cosmetic dermatology and facials specialist. Driven by a profound understanding of skincare, she has significantly contributed to the development of product portfolios for beauty brands through her adept diagnosis and treatment of various skin conditions.
Dr José Costa
Dr José Costa is a senior consultant paediatrician, specialising in the latest research, medical guidance and insight on childhood food allergies, Rhinitis (Hay Fever), Eczema, Asthma and associated conditions.
Dr Irina Ilyich
Dr. Irina Ilyich, Lead Medical Advisor at Flo Health, is passionate about integrating female health into the digital realm. Leveraging her expertise in obstetrics and gynaecology, she endeavours to make health information more engaging and accessible. Irina's goal is to reshape how women and people with periods understand and access their well-being for healthier lives.
Dr Sara Kayat
Dr Sara Kayat studied medicine at King’s College London, where she also achieved a BSc in Physiology and has a diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Health. Sara has a keen interest in surgical specialties, such as ENT and Orthopaedics, which she puts into general practice by having a weekly minor surgery clinic. When not in clinic, Dr Sara is resident GP on ITV’s This Morning and has featured on shows such as GPs Behind Closed Doors (Channel 5) and 12 Hours to Cure Your Street (UKTV). Her first book How to Have a Baby, published earlier this year, is an empowering, unbiased guide and essential toolkit for pregnancy, labour, birth, breastfeeding and your baby’s first year.
Dr Susanna Unsworth
Dr. Susanna Unsworth is the Founder of Cambridge Women’s Health, and is dedicated to women’s health, particularly menopause. After serving as a GP in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, Dr. Susanna now works as a Specialty Doctor in the Breast Clinic at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, bringing over a decade of experience to her practice.
Dr Elia F Maalouf, MBCHB, FRCPCH, MD
Dr Elia Maalouf is a consultant paediatrician and neonatologist at the Portland Hospital for Women and Children, the UK's largest private children's hospital. Dr Elia Maalouf specialises in the treatment of fevers. Specialising in Neonatal medicine, Dr Maalouf has a particular interest in General Paediatric clinics; Baby checks; Feeding problems; Colic; Excessive crying; Food Aversion; Gastroesophageal Reflux in babies; cow's milk protein allergy; lactose intolerance; Constipation; Diarrhoea; Tiredness; lack of energy; Cough; wheeze; breathing problems; Recurrent fevers; frequent infection; Tonsillitis; glue ear; glands; lymph nodes; lumps; Vaccinations; Fever.
Dr Emily Prior
Dr Emily Prior is a Paediatrician at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Emily qualified from Imperial College in 2012 and has worked across a number of hospitals in North-West London during her paediatric training. She also sits on the Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health’s Engagement Committee and Great Ormond Street Hospital parent advisory group for research. Emily is married to Benoit and they live in South-west London with their young daughter and son.
Midwives and doulas
Midwife Pip
Midwife Pip is a truly passionate midwife and advocate for the profession, bursting with knowledge. Pip is an experienced, practicing Midwifery Sister, MSc graduate, founder of Midwife Pip Podcast, Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Educator, co-author of published research and very importantly, a mum.
Marley Hall
A registered midwife based in Surrey UK, Marley Hall lives with her with 5 children, two of whom are twins. She has practised midwifery in various settings throughout London and Surrey over the past 10 years covering both the NHS and private sectors, and is an expert in all things antenatal, pregnancy and postnatal care for women. She is a founder of @ChildBirthDownloads and is teaching parents about all aspects of mainly pregnancy stories, from birth plans to c-section scar advice. Follow her at Midwife Marley.
Frances Cushway
Frances Cushway has coached mothers for over ten years, supporting them through the different career transitions they experience in their working lives. She founded The Maternity Coach in 2019, to purely focus on supporting women through the transition to and from maternity leave.
Emiliana Hall
Emiliana Hall is the founder of The Mindful Birth Group® and continues to teach Mindful Natal® courses and support families as a birth and postnatal doula and hypnobirthing expert. It's a topic she's been passionate about since 2014 since the birth of her first baby. Emiliana also has training in dealing with trauma around birth, baby loss.
Susan Hogan
Susan Hogan grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and studied general nursing in university, followed by a postgraduate study in midwifery. In her years as a midwife in hospitals and communities, Sue discovered a strong passion for antenatal education for parents, so gradually specialised herself in the area, particularly the changes in parental education and specifically the digitalising of antenatal education. She now holds the position full-time as Clinical Midwife Manager, where she creates the course contents and delivers the information to women and their partners attending the hospital.
Lesley Gilchrist
Lesley Gilchrist, BSc (Hons) Midwifery Studies, MSc Clinical Research Methods, is the CEO and founder of 'My Expert Midwife' and has been a midwife since 2003, working in some of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe. Through this time, Lesley has gained invaluable experience and insight into maternity care, labour and birth.
Midwife Marie
As a qualified midwife with over twelve years experience delivering baby's Midwife Marie knows her stuff when it comes to pregnancy and early baby development. Marie is also a mother of two and an author. She is dedicated to supporting parents in navigating their parenthood journey with her range of online courses and books, whilst breaking down scientific data into a digestible form for everyone to understand.
Rachel Fitz-Desorgher
Rachel Fitz-D is an active birth teacher, parenting consultant and author of Baby Skin To Skin, with over 30 years working as a midwife and as a parenting consultant. Based in Berkshire, near London, she has appeared on numerous radio programmes, talking about various issues from infant feeding to smacking to humanist parenting. She co-created Henley Birthcare, a unique freelance midwifery and doula service offering bespoke care.
Emma Armstrong
Driven by her passion to make a difference, Emma Armstrong trained as a Doula with Nurturing Birth and completed her Hypnobirthing training with the renowned best-selling author, Sophie Fletcher. Thus, The Naked Doula was born, embarking on a mission to revolutionise birth. Emma believes that every parent deserves access to visual evidence-based, bite-size tips, and information for every stage of their journey, from pregnancy to birth and postpartum. It's all about helping you feel confident, informed, and ready to embrace the transformative experience of birth.
Breastfeeding
Amy Brown
Professor Amy Brown is Director of the centre for Lactation, Infant Feeding and Translation (LIFT) at Swansea University in the UK, where she also leads the MSc in Child Public Health.
Danielle Facey
Danielle Facey, The Breastfeeding Mentor, is a writer and speaker on a mission to help mums everywhere breastfeed on their own terms for as long as they choose. Her book and online guides are full of practical advice rooted in yogic philosophy and psychological theory to help mums thrive as they breastfeed. With a following of over 100,000 on social media, she shares breastfeeding wisdom with parents around the world.
Sioned Hilton
Sioned Hilton has over 25 years’ experience working with mums across the UK, she has worked as a registered general and paediatric nurse, including specialist neonatal nursing, has a BSc in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing and accreditation as a registered International Certified Lactation Consultant.
Weaning and nutrition
Charlotte Stirling-Reed
Charlotte Stirling-Reed is “The Baby & Child Nutritionist” and is a Registered Nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition. Charlotte is also an author and mum to little foodies Raffy and Adaline, and owner of consultancy, SR Nutrition. It’s her mission in her work to give parents confidence in feeding their children.
Annabel Karmel
Annabel Karmel MBE is an expert in nutrition and cooking for babies and children. The North Londoner offers multiple books and recipe app advice on helping parents discover children’s cookery from weaning your baby to toddlerhood. She runs an online weaning course on her website, annabellkarmel.com. Follow her at Annabel Karmel.
Rebecca Wilson
Rebecca Wilson, aka @rebeccawilsonfood, is a weaning expert. Rebecca started off by making meals for her daughter Nina and is now a Sunday Times best-selling author for her cookbook, What Mummy Makes. She offers nutrition advice, how to serve food to your baby/toddler safely and even looks at portion sizes and bulk-freezing.
Baby sleep experts
Lucy Wolfe
Lucy Wolfe, HDip, MA, is a Leading Irish Sleep Consultant, Relationship Mentor, Author of the best-selling books: The Baby Sleep Solution and All About the Baby Sleep Solution and Mum of four children. She has completed extensive training and education in Ireland, UK, and USA, together with continuous professional development, staying informed and engaged with recent research and development in the field of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theories, conscious parenting, childhood development and sleep. She has been in practice, actively working with parents for over thirteen years.
Rosey Davidson
Rosey Davidson is founder and CEO of Just Chill Baby sleep, an infant sleep consultancy focused on providing straight forward, no-nonsense sleep advice to parents. As a successful businesswoman and content creator with a large social media following (@just_chill_mama), Rosey gives an insight into her work as a sleep consultant, entrepreneur, and busy parent to her three young children, based in London.
Jo Tantum
With over 27 years experience working with babies and parents worldwide, it's no wonder Jo Tantum is the UK's leading Baby Sleep Expert, teaching babies how to love sleeping with calm, gentle guidance, encouraging confident parenting.
Emily McInnes
Emily McInnes is a Paediatric Nurse and Certified Holistic Sleep Coach. She has over ten years experience in the healthcare setting and has a passion for supporting parents with their child's sleep. She has a vast amount of knowledge in paediatric sleep which she is passionate about sharing with the wider community to educate and reassure parents about the biologically normal sleep behaviours of babies and toddlers. Follow her at Sound Asleep Coaching.
Fitness experts
Hannah Mummy Mills
Hannah Mills is a trained pre and post natal specialist, and personal trainer. She helps mothers get fit physically and mentally with her expert advice on how much and when to train from the first day a woman finds out she’s pregnant to after baby has arrived. Follow her at Hannah Mummy Mills.
Shakira Akabusi
Shakira Akabusi is a pre and postnatal fitness expert, speaker, writer and founder of StrongLikeMum. As a mum of four, Shakira has combined her professional expertise and her personal experience to support women throughout their pregnancy and postnatal journey. Acutely in-tune to the importance of physical and mental wellbeing, Shakira is on a mission to shatter the stereotypes surrounding motherhood, in particular body image, exercise and mental health.
Mari-Carmen Sanchez-Morris
Mari-Carmen Sanchez-Morris is the founder of the FIT MAMA app and a pre and postnatal health expert. After working as a Paediatric Intensive Care nurse, her own maternity experiences in 2017 inspired her to pursue a career in pre and postnatal fitness, becoming a certified personal trainer to support women in their fitness journeys. With her medical background and personal experience, she empowers women to reclaim their strength and identity. As a mother of three, she is passionate about making health and fitness resources available to all mothers.
Child development
Amanda Jenner
Amanda Jenner, a mum of three, is the toilet training expert on ITV's This Morning, the owner of the award-winning My Carry Potty (the world's only 100 per cent leak-proof potty for training at home and on the go), and has decades of experience working with parents to overcome toilet training challenges through the Potty Training Academy.
Dr Amanda Gummer
Dr Amanda Gummer is a child development expert who founded The Good Play Guide in 2012. Amanda has a PhD in Neuropsychology, the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and over 20 years’ experience working with children and families. Having worked in children’s industries for many years, Amanda is now widely considered as the UK’s go-to expert on play, toys and child development.
Fi Star-Stone
With 27 years working with children and families, Fi Star-Stone is a qualified parenting advisor and child sleep consultant who offers practical support and 1:1 services. Her qualifications include, Childhood and Youth studies, an NNEB in Nursery nursing and a Diploma in Childhood studies. Fi has written four books and also runs The Regular Parent podcast for support. Follow her at Fi Star-Stone.
Heidi Skudder
Having read psychology and started her career as a nanny, Heidi Skudder quickly identified there was demand for high quality, experienced based support for new parents. Leveraging her hands on experience, Heidi launched a sleep coaching business in 2011, helping new parents create positive sleep habits for their babies. This quickly grew into a successful consulting service, with parents worldwide turning to Heidi for support with their babies and toddlers.
Anita Cleare MA AdvDip
Anita Cleare MA AdvDip is a parenting speaker, writer and coach who supports working parents to balance successful careers with being a parent. With an academic background in developmental psychology, Anita has a talent for helping parents to step back and reflect on parent-child dynamics and implement small changes that make a huge difference. An accredited Triple P® parenting facilitator, Anita has been working in family support for 20 years.
Sarah Ockwell-Smith
Sarah Ockwell-Smith is a well-known parenting expert and a highly regarded popular childcare author who specialises in the psychology and science of parenting, 'gentle parenting' and attachment theory, with a particular interest in child sleep. She has authored 15 parenting books, translated into over 30 languages, which have sold over half a million copies.Her latest book ‘How to Raise a Teen‘ was published in July 2024.
Crystal Miles
Crystal Miles is the founder of Connected Babies, a Nutritional Therapist (specialising in pregnancy and fertility) a Doula, Hypnobirthing Teacher, Breastfeeding Specialist, 3-Step Rewind Practitioner (healing birth trauma), Certified Infant Massage Instructor and Trainer, Baby Yoga teacher and most importantly a Mum of two.
Fertility
Sandy Christiansen
Sandy Christiansen, MSc is an Embryologist and award-winning fertility coach with over a decade of experience working in fertility clinics around the world. She is a HCPC registered Clinical Scientist, ESHRE certified Clinical Embryologist and highly experienced fertility coach.
Mum mental health and wellbeing
Anna Mathur
As a Psychotherapist, Author and mother of 3, Anna Mathur has a relentless passion to dream up fresh ways to guide fellow mums in tackling guilt, anxiety and overwhelm. Anna is an accredited member the BACP, with an MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling and 10+ years of experience. She is Times Bestselling author of Mind over Mother, and Know Your Worth.
Tasha Bailey
Tasha Bailey is an accredited psychotherapist and author specialising in trauma, self-love, and creativity in therapy. She has become a prominent voice on social media, advocating for open discussions on mental health, healing, and self-care. Tasha’s approach aims to make these conversations more dynamic, inclusive, and relevant.
Jill Barnett Kaufman
Jill Barnett Kaufman is a compassionate relationship counsellor, certified parent educator, and cognitive-behavioural therapist. She specialises in guiding clients through difficult and overwhelming situations, helping them discover new ways to enhance their happiness and peace. Jill's supportive and insightful approach empowers individuals to transform their lives for the better.
Paula Sheridan
Paula Sheridan, a career coach and the founder of Unwrapping Potential, is dedicated to helping women recognise and communicate their value effectively, both at home and in the workplace. She is passionate about empowering women to understand their worth and contributions, ensuring their needs are met.
Rosie Daughton
Rosie Daughton (@roxetera) is a content creator and Mummy to Ziggy. She lives with her wife Rose and together they make YouTube videos as Rose&Rosie.
Georgina Sturmer
Georgina Sturmer is a Counsellor and Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. In her private practice she specialises in supporting women through anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, pregnancy, fertility, miscarriage, postnatal depression, domestic abuse, trauma, and loss. She also worked and volunteered for the charity Home-Start for a number of years, as a home-visitor, a counsellor and as a trustee. She is passionate about offering parents the support that they need to be the best version of themselves.
Becca Maberly
Becca Maberly is an antenatal, postnatal and parenting expert and the founder of A Mother Place - famed for telling it like it is about pregnancy, birth and what comes after! She is the author of Nobody Tells You (over 100 honest stories about pregnancy, birth and parenthood) and more recently 'The Mother of All Journals' - a paper-based space where you’ll find support, encouragement, hacks and humour to help you grab a slice of calm in the chaos.
Gail Madalena
Gail Madalena is a registered Clinical Nutritional Therapist specialising in fertility, pregnancy and postpartum nutrition and is part of the expert consultation team at Wild Nutrition. She has extensive experience providing the latest, safest, and most scientifically backed nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle advice. Her expertise helps women optimise conception, maintain healthy pregnancies, and navigate the challenges of postpartum life with confidence.