Newborn Care

  • breastfeeding,  doula,  Newborn Care,  Postpartum care

    Breastfeeding a newborn! Help!

    Help! I just pushed a baby out of my body and breastfeeding my newborn is making that look easy!   This is common.  Breastfeeding is well…it involves a learning curve and is possibly the hardest, most rewarding learning curve ever.  We want to encourage you on this learning curve.  We will be posting a series on breastfeeding helps.  Keep going.  It will be so worth it!* We offer postpartum doula support for mothers during this very special season.  Please visit postpartum doula to learn more.  For our first post in this series about breastfeeding a newborn, how about a couple of recipes?  By the way if you know someone expecting…

  • birth,  family,  Newborn Care,  Postpartum care

    Sad State of Postpartum Care in the U.S.

     Why am I writing about  the uniquely U.S. state of postpartum care and recuperation?   When a woman carries a baby and gives birth, her body undergoes great changes. There are visible signs of those changes, but that only shows a very small part of what her body has done. Her blood vessels have changed in order to accommodate twice the blood volume. Her lung capacity has changed, and it will take most of a year for it to return pre-pregnancy way of operation. Her muscles separated for the expansion of her womb, joints and connective tissue all became looser in preparation for delivery. All of her abdominal organs were…

  • birth,  home birth,  hospital birth,  Newborn Care

    After Birth – The Golden Hour

    The Golden Hour – What it is, what it is not Many changes for the better have been happening in the labor and delivery ward.  New terms such as Baby Friendly Hospital and the Golden Hour are becoming a part of the new jargon. What do they mean? We have written an article describing Baby Friendly Hospital designation.  Briefly, it encourages polices that support the mother-baby dyad, promotes policies that support breastfeeding and remove policies that  interfere with breastfeeding and the mother-baby relationship.  The article is available here. One of the policies that is part of the baby friendly designation is honoring the Golden Hour following birth.  The Golden Hour…

  • birth,  breastfeeding,  hospital birth,  Newborn Care,  Pregnancy

    Baby Friendly – Mother Friendly

    Baby Friendly?  Mother Friendly? Have you heard of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative?   Are these terms confusing?  What do these terms actually mean for mothers and babies?  What are their differences? Baby Friendly The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) desires to promote breastfeeding and the health of babies through evidence based practices for successful breastfeeding, and mother/baby bonding.   It is an international program initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 1991.  The program is voluntary and if a hospital pursues the designation, they can be awarded the coveted Baby Friendly Hospital status. Mother Friendly The Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative…