Mamaste Doula and Birth Services

09/24/2022

It's National Seat Check Saturday! I'll be out checking car seats at Christiana Hospital in Lot M until 1:00 PM. Stop by and make sure you are doing everything you can to protect your most precious cargo.

09/22/2022

Such an interesting new paper - babies reacting to different flavours in the womb. There have been previous studies that have linked maternal diet during pregnancy to acceptance of different foods when babies start solids (and also maternal diet during breastfeeding). This study shows babies pulling different faces in the womb according to whether their mother had carrot (sweeter tasting), kale (more bitter) or a control.

Personally 'carrot face' here is more my cake face but they didn't have that as an option :(

'Pregnant women and their fetuses based in the northeast of England were involved in this study from 32 to 36 weeks’ gestation. Fetuses exposed to carrot flavor (n = 35) showed “lip-corner puller” and “laughter-face gestalt” more frequently, whereas fetuses exposed to kale flavor (n = 34) showed more “upper-lip raiser,” “lower-lip depressor,” “lip stretch,” “lip presser,” and “cry-face gestalt” in comparison with the carrot group and a control group not exposed to any flavors (n = 30).'

Paper here -

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976221105460'

08/25/2022

From a mom who exclusively breastfed all my kids for the 1st year of each of their lives, I fully support this message from ❤️Take care of YOU. That is the best thing you can do for your baby.

08/15/2022

RECALL ALERT: 4moms Recalls More than 2 Million MamaRoo and RockaRoo Infant Swings and Rockers Due to Entanglement and Strangulation Hazards; One Death Reported. When the swing or rocker is not in use, their restraint straps can dangle below the seat and non-occupant crawling infants can become entangled in the straps, posing a strangulation hazard. Consumers with infants who can crawl should immediately stop using the recalled swings and rockers, place them in an area where crawling infants cannot access and contact 4moms immediately to register for a free strap fastener that will prevent the straps from extending under the swing when not in use. More Info: https://bit.ly/3CceJ4R

08/13/2022

07/26/2022

Willow Wearable Breast Pump

07/24/2022

07/22/2022

Scientists have discovered an odorless scent molecule called hexadecanal, or HEX, that is released by humans and impacts aggressive behavior. The HEX molecule is the most abundant molecule released on the newborn baby's head. The researchers found that this molecule reduced aggression in males (biologically important as infanticide is a relatively common event in the mammalian world) and increased aggression in females (key to infant protection). We have shared with parents that when they are skin to skin with their newborn they should remove the baby's hat to allow them to inhale the scent of their newborn as it elicits an entire range of activity in the parental brain. This is one more reason to take a deep sniff! (Mishor et al., 2022)

Source: Eva Mishor et al, Sniffing the human body volatile hexadecanal blocks aggression in men but triggers aggression in women, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg1530

07/18/2022

Yep! This is is exactly why the Cochrane Review suggests that we better our observational skills of knowing where someone is in - something that both an experienced and tend to be pretty good at 👍🏽

In our we talk all about how to gauge without relying on internal exams 🤰🏿


Posted • In a 2007 study, researchers wanted to know, how accurate are cervical exams?

To explore this they had one researcher (an experienced obstetric consultant) and various hospital clinicians separately perform cervical exams on 508 women in active labor — without knowing each other’s findings.

The researcher and clinician agreed on dilation 49% of the time and disagreed 51% of the time. Out of that amount, 11% of the time they disagreed by 2cm or more. 🤯

This was the first time a study used the assessment of real people rather than models!

What can we take away from this study? 🤔

Cervical exams have their time and place but they are not the end all be all for assessing where we are in labor and what’s to come.

💬 Do you have a story or question about cervical exams?

The more you know, the more informed your choice. ❤️✨



Reposted from

07/15/2022

No question about it. 💯If we want to improve outcomes for everyone - regardless of pain medication preference or - including

🟡 shorter time
🟡 less risk of fetal distress
🟡 less risk of a baby getting “stuck” during
🟡 less risk of intervention
🟡 decreased risk of perineal trauma
🟡 increased support person involvement
🟡 improved birth satisfaction for the parent
🟡 increased autonomy for the person laboring

then ALL providers - clinical and non-clinical - must become well versed in how the bones of the shift with movement and positioning and how to use that knowledge to change space for the where they need it as they descend and rotate in . 🤰🏼👶🏽🧑🏾‍⚕️👩🏻‍⚕️👶🏻🤰🏿🧑🏻‍⚕️👶🏿🤰🏻👨🏼‍⚕️🤰🏽👶🏼

🌟Workshops available virtually and in person. Contact hours available through the PA Board of Nursing. 🌟