Tiff and Elise are bad-ass mums, midwifery students and owners of Shine Postnatal Services based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.  They are passionate about providing families with postnatal support after they have welcomed a new baby into their family.

Shine Postnatal Services offers food delivery and cleaning packages to families with new bubbas in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast. They also provide food delivery to most metro cities in Australia!

Imagine. Food delivered. House cleaned. Nothing but time and space to focus on your healing and settling in to motherhood. YES.

Tiff and Elise, wonder women!

Hello ladies! We're so excited to have you in our Profesh Sesh. Shine Postnatal, wowsers you offer some incredible services, tell us everything about you!

Thanks so much for having us! We are both mums and student midwives, getting ready to graduate in November this year. Our lives revolve around our kids and families and being full-time student midwives, with a side of postnatal support running our small business. We are busy, that’s for sure! We really are so invested in making a difference by providing education to inform decision making, encouraging women to feel empowered and supported, and one of our biggest aims is to change the current postpartum culture by promoting rest, recovery and outsourcing help in those first few weeks and months.

Yes let's change that culture! OK, food services, house cleaning, SO VALUABLE for families who have just had a baby, and something people don’t necessarily think about. Why do you think new parents need this service and what is some of the feedback you’ve received?

We believe that there is a huge gap between the postnatal support mothers get, and the support they actually need. We were both shocked to learn that as many as 1 in 5 Australian mothers are diagnosed with postnatal depression. This just highlighted to us that mums need more support in order to thrive in motherhood. And daily tasks such as cooking and cleaning are a great place to start. It is impossible to be a mum to a new baby, and keep on top of cooking and cleaning. It’s just not possible. And it seems that the mental health of mothers is what ends up suffering when they try to do it all. Society and cultural expectations need to change and that is what we are trying to achieve.

We have received great feedback since starting last year. The best feedback we often hear is that this is such a needed service and that it makes a huge difference to those first few weeks. It is a more practical gift, and we think that’s why people feel so great about gifting this to a family.

 Tiff (far left) and Elise (far right) working their magic!

You offer packages and gift vouchers and we think this is so perfect for people who would like to give meaningful but also practical gifts for new parents, can you tell us a bit more about them?

Yes! The perfect gift for any new mum or growing family is a practical one. We offer a variety of packages that include either meals only, cleaning only or a combination of the two. We often create custom packages for new mums, and we even offer pre-paid credit so that once a new baby arrives everything is already paid for and ready to go! Our gift certificates can be sent digitally or printed, as well as the option of attaching the voucher to a helium balloon (rose gold or chrome blue), which is a popular choice for baby showers or a surprise doorstop gift. It was important to us when we sourced suppliers that offered healthy, fresh meals and female cleaners that used eco-friendly products, so families know that we are dedicated to providing a well-considered service.

Name a mum who wouldn't want this as a gift... I'll wait.

Honestly such a good idea! You’re both in your final year studying midwifery, what inspired you to get into midwifery and will you be bringing this part of your work into Shine?

Our own birthing experiences and motherhood was the catalyst for both of us taking the big step to commence our midwifery degree. We then developed a passion for postnatal support when we saw first-hand what a gap there is in Australia for mothers once they leave hospital and are home with a new baby. We are passionate about improving maternal mental health in Australia and we believe that in this day and age, hiring help is a great way to enable mothers to thrive and focus on what really matters, which is healing from birth, tending to their baby’s needs, and ensuring their own emotional health and wellbeing is prioritised.

We would love to add more midwifery aspects to our services – unfortunately midwives are quite limited with what they can offer outside of a hospital setting but we will be doing what we can once we can finally call ourselves midwives, we can’t wait and I guess this will be a “stay tuned” event!

OK full confession, I love your Insta. I recently saw you posted about a “tool-kit” for labour and birth? Could you tell us a little teaser about it?

We are SO excited about this. Although our focus is primarily postnatal support, we recognise that birth is the gateway to motherhood, and a positive birth experience is associated with improved mental health postnatally, so we really wanted to think of ways we could improve birth experiences for women. Research shows that going in to labour with a non-pharmacological ‘tool-kit’ so to speak, helps women to cope with physiological labour. So, we decided to create a tool-kit that women can hire. We don’t want to give too much away just yet, but think of a dark star lit room, candles flickering, aromatherapy and more. It is going to be calming and peaceful - everything a birth space should be.

Such a great resource to help you get ready for birth!

Are there any TMM products you would recommend to your customers?

So many beautiful products. We always encourage mums to keep it simple. It’s a great idea to express colostrum antenatally if you can, so the expressing kit would be great if you can’t get one for free from your midwives. Compression stockings are also a great idea, as your risk of developing a blood clot increases after having a baby. Heat packs can be great for afterbirth pains too.

Colostrum Expressing Kit, Compression Socks (that don't suck!) and heatpacks from Chatterbox City and Oscar & Harley available now at TMM.

And what advice would you give to a first-time mum to be?

Save the money you would spend on an insta-worthy nursery and spend it on hiring help postnatally instead. Plan for postpartum, not just the birth. Also, knowledge is power. It isn’t necessarily about creating a strict birth plan, but knowing your options and alternatives ahead of time can reduce anxiety and stress in labour and birth – we know that stress can inhibit that beautiful hormone oxytocin that is needed for birth, so eliminating stress as much as possible by being informed will make all the difference.

How has COVID affected your work?

We haven’t been affected by COVID so far, if anything, we have been busier! Meal delivery is a great way to avoid heading to the shops. We facilitate contactless meal delivery on request and the hygiene standards of our meal prep are extremely strict. We understand that women and their families are feeling it though, and that has inspired us to check in more with mums on placement, asking questions about their support systems and encouraging them to still facetime and engage in online catch-ups and birth classes. We really feel for women during this time, it is a big unknown in terms of who can be there at the birth and during visiting hours - it can change very quickly.

You'll find beautiful, inspiring and positive messages on the Shine Postnatal insta!

OK I think it's pretty safe to say people are going to try and find you! How do they get in touch with you to learn more about Shine Postnatal Services?

We are active on Instagram every day, always sharing information with our followers about pregnancy, birth and beyond. Follow us @shine_postnatal. We are also on Facebook @shinepostnatalservices or email us at shinepostnatal@gmail.com.

Thanks SO much for doing this you lovely humans!

Thanks for having us!!

If you're interested in being interviewed for Profesh Sesh, sharing your knowledge and profiling your business please reach out to us at support@thematernitymarket.com.au. This is the mumma advice network in action!