Teaching Safe Sleep Practices
Posted by doularama | Filed under News
Not long ago, I was recommending to women in need of breastfeeding support, a newly-crowned IBCLC here in the Bronx. I had met her about a year earlier while we both volunteered for a fund raising event for The New Space for Women’s Health, Manhattan’s next freestanding birth center at the time ( a project which has just been discontinued, hopefully only temporarily).
Anyway, this acquaintance, who I now count as a friend, works for a government agency that is charged with spreading the good news about good health in the Bronx. I’m sure their mission statement isn’t worded quite that way, but that really does suffice for my purpose right now. So, my friend asked me if I knew of anyone who might be interested in teaching one-hour breastfeeding classes. Her office needed to get a certain number of classes taught in a short amount of time and they were looking for help. Well, not only did I know someone, I was that one. She told me to go to the office so we could talk about it.
When I showed up, I was surprised to find I was on a job interview. The application even asked for references- and they were called! We talked about my experience as a doula and an educator and then I was asked if I had ever actually breastfed. I could have been hired solely because I had breastfed my son only an hour before the interview. Before I left, they asked, quite incidentally, if I might also be available to give talks on SIDS. They were providing all the curricula and a very generous stipend, so I said yes without knowing that I was stepping into a pit of self-betrayal from which I could only emerge by complaining to my dear husband and you, of course. Thanks for reading.
The class is actually on SIDS and Safe Sleep Practices, which are actually unrelated because, as I have been trained to say, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the unexplained death of a baby, furthermore and to the point, it is not preventable. I suppose, though, that someone felt that a class for telling people to put their babies to sleep in a crib, on their backs, with no blankets, pillows or other suffocation hazards might be too short. Well, that’s not the only problem.
My big concern is with the recommendation that families make their babies sleep alone. The recommendation is based on a flawed study which was funded by the Consumer Products Safety Commission and the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association, i.e., the crib manufacturer’s lobbyists. The study concluded that babies sleep best alone, in a crib. Once again, we in the United States, have decided that what the rest of the world is doing, what humankind has been doing all along, is wrong and we should go out and buy something, along with its hundred accessories to make it right.
Our public education campaigns have been dumbed down because it is widely recognized that some people may not follow the safety guidelines for bed sharing. I wish I could share that, if they want to experience the ultimate in bonding and hormonal regulation, better sleep and milk production and even better family relations, they should keep their newborns with them around the clock and find out how to safely share their beds. Maybe I could slip each of them a note instruction them to meet me outside for a private class. I know, however, that many of these women have always planned to separate themselves from their newborns with at least a wall. That even in the hospital they will welcome the rest offered to them by the nursery option. This is typical in our society and it’s very difficult for me to explain that it just isn’t normal.
Next week I will be speaking to four different groups, spelling out for them the guidelines that our government has established for them on safe sleep. It is unlikely that anyone will ask me what I personally did with my children, but if someone does, should I admit that for four months my son slept on top of me as I sat in a recliner? Probably not, as that is discouraged by all sides, but I will tell them that I made the decision that was right for my family and I’ll encourage them to do the research and make the decisions that are right for theirs.
I won’t stray from my curriculum for now, but I look forward to seeing our leaders take us in a new direction in the near future. Perhaps they should focus on breastfeeding, the missing factor in bed-sharing infant deaths.
Tags: Bed Sharing, Breastfeeding, Co-Sleeping, SIDS
Celebrate International Doula Month
Posted by doularama | Filed under News
May is International Doula Month!
A doula is a professional labor assistant. Doulas are experienced in childbirth and provide continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother and her partner before, during and just after childbirth. In the prenatal period, a doula can help women gain information so that they can have the power to make knowledge-based decisions rather than fear-based decisions.
If you are a doula, there are a few things you should do.
1. Take time to reflect on the work you do. Think about the motivating factor that launched you into service. Make sure you haven’t lost sight of your commitment. If you think you have and you don’t have a mentor, reach out to the doula community (even online here) and communicate to someone who understands.
2. Take time to care for yourself and replenish your spirit. Our energy can so easily be sapped if we don’t take care of our needs and we will not be able to serve others. I know it’s a cliché already, but let me remind you that, when you’re on that airplane and the oxygen masks drop, you need to get yours on first before you help anyone else.
3. Attend a workshop or class that will help broaden your understanding of the things your clients may be facing. You might not be able to get continuing education units or points with your organization, but you will likely grow professionally and personally.
4. Make your presence known in your community. Better yet, step out of your comfort zone, and reach out to an underserved population, offering your services at a reduced rate. I volunteer at a clinic in the South Bronx, teaching prenatal classes. Most of the women end up wanting doulas so I match them with free doulas who are still seeking certification.
5. Network with other doulas and see if you can do all of the above with a group. Organize a class, party, outing or spa day.
If you are not a doula, thank a doula you know. If you don’t know any doulas, you’re probably missing out- they tend to be fantastic people!
Happy International Doula Month!
1. Take time to reflect on the work you do. Think about the motivating factor that launched you into service. Make sure you haven’t lost sight of your commitment. If you think you have and you don’t have a mentor, reach out to the doula community (even online here) and communicate to someone who understands.
2. Take time to care for yourself and replenish your spirit. Our energy can so easily be sapped if we don’t take care of our needs and we will not be able to serve others. I know it’s a cliché already, but let me remind you that, when you’re on that airplane and the oxygen masks drop, you need to get yours on first before you help anyone else.
3. Attend a workshop or class that will help broaden your understanding of the things your clients may be facing. You might not be able to get continuing education units or points with your organization, but you will likely grow professionally and personally.
4. Make your presence known in your community. Better yet, step out of your comfort zone, and reach out to an underserved population, offering your services at a reduced rate. I volunteer at a clinic in the South Bronx, teaching prenatal classes. Most of the women end up wanting doulas so I match them with free doulas who are still seeking certification.
5. Network with other doulas and see if you can do all of the above with a group. Organize a class, party, outing or spa day.
Save Homebirth in New York City
Posted by doularama | Filed under News, Recommendations
At midnight tomorrow, April 30th, the majority of New York City’s home birth midwives will no longer be able to practice legally. Unless immediate action is taken by the Governor and the NYS Department of Health the women that these midwives serve will be denied access to a home birth with their chosen provider and these providers will no longer be able to practice legally in NYS.
YOU MUST ACT NOW to save the home birth option for New York Women:
Call:
*311
*Wendy Saunders, Executive Deputy Commissioner for the NY State Department of Health, appointed by Governor Paterson. 518-474-8390
*Larry Mokhiber, the Secretary of the Board of Midwifery (518-474-3817, extension 130)
With the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, half of the licensed, highly trained home birth midwives serving NYC have lost their Written Practice Agreement (WPA). St Vincent’s was the only Hospital in the city supportive of a woman’s right to choose a home birth and willing to sign a WPA. In the weeks since it’s announced closure, these midwives have reached out to hospitals and obstetricians all across the city looking for support, with no success. Please help us to save the homebirth option in New York.
People can also email the Governor at http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.
Tags: home birth, Homebirth, Midwives, St. Vincent's Hospital
Face of Birth- Homebirth Documentary
Posted by doularama | Filed under News, Recommendations
This preview was a tear-jerker. I’m sure that watching the film will make me angry. I hope it makes many, many people angry!
Face of Birth
Where the personal Gets Political
Tags: Australia, documentary, home birth, Homebirth
Birth Bracelet
Posted by doularama | Filed under Recommendations
I am thrilled to share this idea. I’m sorry to say it’s not mine originally, but I think it’s great so I’ve adopted it. It’s a bracelet made with memory wire and a bead for each birth I’ve been a part of. At my postpartum visits, I ask each woman to choose a bead to add which represents her birth.
Tags: Beading, childbirth, doula
The Power of Latching On
Posted by doularama | Filed under Recommendations
I have way too many blog posts floating around in my head, wanting to come out, but I just don’t know when they actually will. Luckily, I’ve just discovered Latching On The Politics of Breastfeeding in America and here’s a couple of cents on that. Sometimes it seems foreign to me to hear that women don’t want to breastfeed in public (or at all) because there is no way on any level that I can relate. Then I teach a class or give a talk and talk to the real women, pregnant, not planning to breastfeed or undecided. I know I help to make up some minds just by answering questions. What’s wrong with us that our women have these questions in the first place?
Tags: Breastfeeding, Latching On, Women Making Movies
To Be or Not To Be a Midwife
Posted by doularama | Filed under Uncategorized
Often, after attending a homebirth, I want to become a midwife. I am fortunate to be able to attend them as often as I do. Recently, I made my final decision, for now. I will do some self study work in case, when my children are older, I really want to delve in. Still, I can’t imagine that I would want to do it more than part-time and I would only attend homebirths.
It has struck me lately how I can easily predict how progressed a woman’s labor is and have always been right, but only when she is laboring at home. In the hospital, I am always wrong, every single time. In the hospital, my clients are always struggling, despite the fabulous support I provide, a little more a little earlier on. They’ve left their comfortable homes, taken off their familiar clothes, limited their mobility and often agreed to even more invasive procedures than those. I really should give myself a break. It’s no wonder they seem to be in hot and heavy labor when things are just beginning.
I realized that I do not want to be a midwife because, even at a homebirth, some time I may have to actually deliver a baby. I don’t want to deliver babies. I just want to catch them. I just want to be there with the woman throughout her prenatal journey and watch her as she labors in her uninhibited, instinctual mammalian glory. I don’t want to have to use sutures or syringes afterward either.
Oh, here’s a big one: I don’t drive. Have you seen how much stuff homebirth midwives lug around? It looks like they’re moving to Europe. Most of it doesn’t get used, but if you need it, you want it to be there. I think that many people picture homebirths happening with a long-haired woman who walks in wearing Birkenstocks and carrying a satchel of herbs. I would probably be wearing more fashionable footwear and would need my driver to bring the luggage in for me. Sounds good, actually.
Still, I want to soak in lots of information. I am a midwife at heart and would like to be a midwife in head. Being a midwife in practice isn’t really necessary. That’s my decision right now and I look forward to going back and forth on that one.
Tags: home birth, Homebirth, midwife, midwifery
Labor-Inducing Cookie Recipe
Posted by doularama | Filed under Recommendations
I loved being pregnant and was never in a hurry to be done with it. Many women, however, are eager for labor to begin and so it is easy to find advice on how to induce labor. There are lots of things to try, some safer than others. Ultimately, they won’t work unless your baby is really ready to come out. Spicy food is supposed to induce labor, probably because of the way it will stimulate your bowels. If you’re not prone to heartburn, I say this is a good excuse to eat a plate of cookies. Alas, I do miss the days of pregnancy!
2 ½ C flour
1 ½ t baking soda
¾ t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
½ t ground cloves
½ t salt
½ t cayenne pepper
8 T butter
½ C sugar
1 C brown sugar
1/3 C molasses
¼ C egg whites
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine flour, baking soda and spices and set
aside. Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the molasses to the creamed
butter, then add the egg whites until combined. Add the dry ingredients
slowly. Once incorporated, roll dough into 1 inch balls and place onto
baking tray. Bake 8-10 minutes. Recipe by Gale Gand.
Cool. Eat. Hope for a baby.
Tags: childbirth, cookie recipe, Gale Gand, inducing labor, labor
Breastfeeding in 1914
Posted by doularama | Filed under News
This poster was part of an early 20th century campaign that was started to reduce the rate of infant mortality. Many babies were dying and something had to be done. The statements made were scary, but true.
Today, just one hundred years later, we find ourselves once again campaigning to bring back breastfeeding. This time, however, not so many babies are dying. It’s not so scary. We’ve gone from, ”Mother’s milk is the only safe food for a baby during the first six months of its life.” to “Breast is Best.”
Tags: board of health, breast is best, Breastfeeding, department of health
Paper or Oshibori?
Posted by doularama | Filed under Parenting, Recommendations
The day my daughter turned six-months-old, she had her first bit of solid food. It wasn’t very solid, but it was officially her first taste of table food. If I had let her, she would have eaten the whole sweet potato. Anyway, at that point I was no longer just dealing with spit-up and poop messes, but with a whole new world of food everywhere. I was prepared, though, with a set of rags for the floor and towels for the table and my very special microfiber towels for my baby’s face and hands.
I bought the microfiber towels at an auto store and, five years later, we’re still using them. They’re soft, absorbent, long-lasting and inexpensive. While we do have a stack of paper napkins at the center of the table, they are only for guests. My children ask for the rag when they need it, I am a neat eater and my husband just doesn’t seem to care much about food on his face and hands.
My children don’t need frequent reminders not to waste paper. They have seen the reason to conserve and they won’t soon forget it. Last year, while vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains, we decided to go for a hike. Really, it was my husband and daughter who decided and I just went along hoping I wouldn’t get any dirt on my boots. We picked up a pamphlet with some directions for area hikes and selected one of the more family-friendly ones, my children being young and me being a priss.
When we got to the site, we found that the directions were somewhat confusing and, after a bit of going back and forth, we decided to go this way rather than that way and off we were on what was obviously the right trail. Well, it would have been the right trail had we intended to trespass on the property of I-don’t-know-what paper company, which is exactly what we were doing.
We’ve gone on nice hikes in the lush “forests” of Van Cortlandt Park near our home in the Bronx and here we were in the wild Adirondacks surrounded by smelly wasteland and oily puddles. It wasn’t a lovely hike, but it was useful in our household as the waste-not lesson goes easily taught with a simple, “Remember the forest in the Adirondacks?”
About a year ago I discovered that school children in Japan have, packed with their bento boxes, moist towels called oshibori. You can just imagine the variety of whimsical cases they sell for them. I remember being given warm, moist towels on airplanes and in restaurants as a child. Those days are gone, but the idea of the oshibori lives on in my family. When packing lunch for one of our outings now, we always include at least one oshibori rather than paper napkins. Not only are we conserving paper, but a wet washcloth is much more handy than a dry napkin even for a neat eater like me.
Tags: adirondack mountains, oshibori, recycling
