‘Birth is just a snapshot’: Why boutique post-natal services are on the rise

Larissa Leone struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety following the birth of her daughter almost a decade ago. Despite being a successful business owner and “having everything in check”, she says “having a child really knocked me for a six”.

“I was really considering doing harm to myself in order to get a break,” she says. “It just didn’t need to be like that.”

Larissa Leone, left, founder of Homb, a recovery and support space for new mothers and parents, with Nikki Walton and 6-week-old daughter Ava.Credit: Joe Armao

Next month, Leone will open the doors to Homb, a not-for-profit postpartum recovery space catering to mothers in their first year of parenthood. Located in Elsternwick, a suburb in Melbourne’s south-east, the space consists of three luxury suites.

While it’s not a medical facility, Homb provides guests with 24/7 access to a rotating team of care specialists including nurses, midwives, lactation consultants, naturopaths and even a paramedic. They can also choose from a menu of optional services like photography, massages and blow waves.

At a time when women are being discharged from hospital at record rates after giving birth and one in five mothers suffer from perinatal depression, boutique services catering to post-natal care like Homb are on the rise in Australia – many founded by mothers with their own postpartum stories to tell.

The clinic

Dr Nicole Gale is founder of the Melbourne perinatal clinic Juno, with patient Mathilde.

For those in the medical field, the postpartum blind spot is clear. Dr Nicole Gale, a GP and lactation consultant, says our public health system is strained and not set up to provide suitable postpartum care. Care in the private system, she says, can be incredibly fragmented.

She founded Juno, a clinic of maternal and infant health specialists in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond last year, to fill this gap. Taking a holistic approach, the Juno team includes GPs trained in women’s health alongside integrative and allied health practitioners.

“What I often see is that despite the best intentions, families fall through the grain because they’re not getting timely support with their queries. And so I see families that are looking for those services but don’t know where to go.”

In Sydney, GP Dr Eliza Hannam is also trying to help families falling through the cracks. As a medical professional, Hannam did not expect to struggle with postpartum depression when she had her first child. “The shock of having a new baby and how unprepared I felt surprised me because I was already working as a GP,” says the Sydney-based mother of three.

Founder of Nurtured, Dr Eliza Hannam (centre) with practitioners Holly Swinnerton, Dr Ali Hodgkinson, Lauren Downes and Dr Melissa Tang.

After her second child Hannam struggled with breastfeeding, which she says led to post-natal depression. “I found it really hard to get the support that I needed,” she says. “I realised the gap in training and knowledge for GPs when it came to things like breastfeeding.”

Spurred by this experience, Hannam launched Nurtured in 2022, a medical clinic in Sydney’s inner west that specialises in perinatal care. Post-natal services they provide include infant feeding, sleep and maternal mental health.

Importantly, Nurtured acts as a kind of starting point for families, connecting them with a network of community services like women’s health physios, naturopaths, doulas, paediatricians and pathologists.

Hannam believes GPs are uniquely placed to serve as a foundational role in women’s pregnancy journeys.

“Whilst I think that postpartum care should be multidisciplinary and holistic, GPs are in a really good position to be a central point of coordination where they can provide continuity of care from preconception,” she says.

She says GPs need to be provided with greater and more in-depth training to support parents postpartum. While most of Nurtured’s services are eligible for a Medicare rebate, she says this isn’t enough and postpartum care should be accessible for all Australians.

The retreat

A dedicated space for post-birth rest and recovery is not an entirely new concept. Across South and East Asia, where a period of “confinement” after birth is an important cultural practice, post-natal hotels are common.

There have been a few experimentations with this model in Australia, including a now defunct luxury retreat in Sydney launched by Sarah Murdoch in 2007. Several private hospitals across the country have partnerships with hotels, although these often serve as overflow for crowded maternity wards.

Leone’s hope for Homb is that it functions preventatively and not as a last resort for burnt out new mothers. She’s concerned about the rising incidence of post-natal anxiety and depression in Australia and worries that “we’re almost at a point where we’re normalising severe mental health and exhaustion as just part of giving birth”.

Leone says a key difference with Homb is its charitable arm, where mothers can access Homb’s facilities for free or at a 50 per cent discount via means testing, based on the government’s family tax benefit framework. Outside this, the cost of admission is steep at $5200 for the minimum four-night stay.

She says the business has been lucky to receive philanthropic funding, and is now working to integrate itself with other health services. “We’re banging on the doors of Medicare and all the private health insurers and hospitals to step up and come to the party.”

Borne founder Avalon Nethery (left) with lactation consultant Lynne Hall at the Intercontinental in Double Bay where she will host her post-natal care space.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

A similar postpartum rest space, Borne, is set to open in Sydney at the Intercontinental Double Bay this June. Like Leone, its founder Avalon Nethery struggled after the births of her two kids and found herself burnt out and dealing with postpartum depression and anxiety.

“I’ve always been extremely career-driven. I’m very much a perfectionist and goal oriented. So for me, having children and not having any structure or control over how and what was going to happen was extremely challenging,” Nethery says.

Being half-Chinese, Nethery was familiar with the care typically devoted to mothers in her culture. She says Borne will offer personalised support to new mothers and fathers, focusing on personalised service and restorative sleep with a strong focus on wellness.

Guests receive daily meals, supplements, teas as well as access to a team of consultants made up of midwives, lactation consultants and psychologists.

“We’re almost at a point where we’re normalising severe mental health and exhaustion as just part of giving birth.”

Larissa Leone, founder of Homb

She acknowledges Borne is in the luxury market ($7200 for the minimum four-night stay), but says the cost of care in Australia is currently too high, and her pricing is the only way to keep the business viable.

“My ultimate goal is to make this an accessible service for all, and to be able to do that, I’m going to prove this model works in a luxury market and show the impact it can have on people’s lives.”

The mother’s group

Keshia Hutchens and Ariel Bryant met towards the end of Melbourne’s lockdowns and bonded over the fact they were both having their third child. “We really felt that as third time mums, it didn’t necessarily get any easier even though we’d been through postpartum before,” Hutchens says.

Earlier this month, the pair launched From Day One, a first-of-its-kind space for mothers from pregnancy to postpartum in inner Melbourne. The membership-based club (one-off sessions go for $35, while memberships start at $20 per week) offers weekly mother’s groups and masterclasses, as well as access to on-site facilities like a breastfeeding room, change table and kitchen.

Keshia Hutchens (front left) and Ariel Bryant (front right), founders of From Day One in Melbourne, with members of one of their mother’s groups.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Hutchens and Bryant spent two years conducting focus groups with mothers, learning about the ways in which their experiences of motherhood had been lacking. Some of the biggest challenges were feelings of isolation and a lack of knowledge about support that was available, particularly among mums who went through their first birth during COVID.

Divided by baby ages and first time and second time mothers, each group has a facilitator, sleep specialist and lactation consultant present, as well as a guest speaker who might present on everything from mental health to fashion.

Ashton Wynn, a buyer at online parenting and baby site The Memo and first time mum, says From Day One has been a vital support network given her and her partner’s families live interstate. “It has given me the confidence boost I was lacking from not having my ‘village’ close by.”

“I always thought I wanted two children. But after that experience, we were one and done and it broke my heart.”

Dr Renee White

The doulas

Hear the word “doula” and you might think of crystals and harem pants, but Dr Renee White, the founder of Fill Your Cup, Australia’s first doula village, wants to change this perception. A doula, she explains, is a non-medical support person who provides emotional and physical support to a mother postpartum.

Indeed it was her own postpartum experience that led her to found Fill Your Cup in 2020. “I had researched the hell out of pregnancy and thought I was prepared,” she says. “I didn’t even think about postpartum life – I had two batches of spaghetti bolognese in the freezer and thought, I’ve got this.”

Ultimately, the exhaustion and stress from her postpartum experience meant White and her husband decided against having another child. “I had a really, really rough time and I always thought I wanted two children. But after that experience, we were one and done and it broke my heart.”

Dr Renee White was inspired to found Fill Your Cup, Australia’s first doula village, after her own postpartum experience.Credit: Kate Cracknell

Instead, White set out to help other new mothers by gaining a qualification as a postpartum doula, and eventually founding Fill Your Cup. The directory has 14 doulas across Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Geelong and Hobart, with pricing typically ranging from $450 to $4050.

She hopes the service can give much-needed oxygen to postpartum support in Australia. “Everyone’s heavily invested in the actual birth, but that’s a snapshot in this huge event. It seems like we’ve got it the wrong way around.”

Her doulas are all mothers themselves, and are trained in evidence-based research on the best way to support new parents, which can include emotional support, light housework, nutrition and sleep training.

“It’s about having that familiar face and beautiful relationship of trust to build confidence and empowerment.”

Most clients, she says, either have little familial support, pre-existing mental or psychological challenges, are time-poor business owners or have a history of tough postpartum experiences.

Perinatal mental health support is available from the PANDA National Helpline on 1300 726 306.

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