1. Your presence in the early hours and days postpartum places you in a key position to support nursing. By learning all you can about lactation and infant feeding, you can help parents and babies get off to a good start. “Doulas should understand they can help clients reach their breastfeeding goals by ensuring babies […]
Six Things IBCLCs Wish All Doulas Knew About Lactation Support Continue reading »
Many clients hire doulas because they want to avoid unnecessary intervention, and we all know the best way to do this is to arrive at the hospital at the “right” time. A doula’s job is to balance the ever-evolving needs of the birthing family, their care provider, and our scope of practice. This includes taking
Timing Arrival to the Hospital During Labor Continue reading »
When I was a new doula, I remember being excited to apply all that I learned in training to support my clients in various birth settings. What I wasn’t prepared for was dealing with differences in birth location policies and working with different providers, who all seemed to have different policies as well. Why was
Navigating Differing Hospital Cultures as a Labor Doula Continue reading »
The process of pregnancy and birth is truly fascinating. The body has a finely tuned, well-organized intricate system that initiates and drives labour and on through birth and later breastfeeding. These processes help to develop a deep connection and attachment with their infant, following the birth. At no other time in one’s life is the hormonal
Hormones that create the pathway to birth. Continue reading »
As we all know, newborn sleep is challenging for parents new and old! Dr Sears in his The Baby Book (2013) writes about “The tiring facts of infant sleep”. It’s not tiring for baby but the adults caring for them! And we all know that we are not at our best when we’re sleep-deprived and
Normalising Newborn Sleep for Parents Continue reading »
Let me tell you a little secret about the pelvic floor in the postpartum period…it’s an unsung hero! Issues with the pelvic floor are often dismissed as a “normal” part of having a baby, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mommas are already dealing with so many changes during pregnancy and postpartum that
What to teach your clients to help their pelvic floors heal postpartum Continue reading »
The Black Community Black mamas are dying. Although the murder of George Floyd sparked a universal outcry fanned by the flames of Black Lives Matter, Black lives do not appear to matter. Legacies of slavery, racism, and segregation are aspects of historic injustice reflected in America today. The history of medical racism in the US
The Other Endemic: Black Mamas Are Still Dying Continue reading »
In an interview recently, one of our prospective couples told me they were reading a book about how to manage infant sleep, and they had plans to put in place that would guarantee their baby would sleep through the night by 12 weeks of age. They asked if I would be able to help them
What If My Client Wants To… Continue reading »
The tragic news of several hospitalizations and infant deaths has prompted a severe warning from the FDA and massive recalls by Abbott Nutrition. The first recall was announced on February 17, 2022, by Abbott Nutrition, which manufactures the Similac Alimentum and EleCare brands. An additional batch of formula was recalled on February 28, 2022,
Infant Formula Recalls and Proper Powder Formula Preparation Continue reading »
Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy and postpartum-related causes than white women. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as quality of healthcare, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias. As CAPPA educators and doulas, we are committed to improving birth and postpartum for all people. Therefore, it is
Why is Anti-racism work important for doulas and educators? Continue reading »