AlliedBirth Doula Services

08/03/2022

For , I want to take today to put the spotlight on something that's less advertised when you talk about breastfeeding:

Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex aka D-MER

To over simplify, D-MER is thought to be a quick decrease in dopamine during your letdown which results in negative feelings- for some it can feel like nausea, for some anger, sadness, anxiety, fear.

While at the present there is no solid link between D-MER and PPA/PPD, be sure to discuss these feelings with your Healthcare provider. You are not alone ❤️

D-MER is a condition affecting breastfeeding women that is characterized by an abrupt dysphoria, negative emotions, or sadness when breastfeeding.

08/02/2022

It's

A photo of me and my then-12-month-old. We made it 14 months breastfeeding together ❤️

05/12/2022

This quietly happened over the weekend, but how incredible is this?

Researchers from The Children's Hospital Westmead in Sydney, Australia released a study that confirmed not only how infants die from sudden infant death syndrome, but why.

04/08/2022

Birth day is my favorite day 💕💕💕

03/08/2022

I loved this post from 😄❤

02/22/2022

I'm frustrated, y'all. Spicy doula post 🔥🤬

02/16/2022

Just a reminder, I'm only taking 1 client per month for 2022 - where's my October client at?! 🤣🤣

02/13/2022

A post for couples:

When having a baby, you're inundated with tons of advice and "just wait til"s (I hate this warning, btw. But I digress...). Everyone tells you things are going to change!!! But rarely are they *specific*.

There are many stresses that come with a new baby - and even the strongest pairs inevitably feel the impact. If you find yourself 2,3,6...9 months postpartum and feeling distant from your partner, you aren't alone. Parenthood is a time when both of you are learning a new version of You, and it can be tricky for both of you to navigate.

I offer this advice: learn each other's Love Language. Those first few months of loving a new baby can leave both of you feeling a little neglected. Knowing how to love your partner in the way they feel most loved is a good way to be loved in your language in return. It's work, but it works.

I am not a psychologist or a therapist. I'm just a doula who is also a mother and wife who had a point where my husband I just... seemed to be reading the same book but were on completely different pages. Now, whenever things seem to be a little off-kilter, I can ask myself, "Have I shown him love in the way he understands it? Have I been loved in a way that makes me feel loved?" 9/10 one of those is "No".

You can take the online quiz here: https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/love-language

And I encourage you to check our their Apology Language Quiz! You might learn something new about yourself in the process.

Hard times don't last forever. I hope you're able to find your way through the fog 💕

02/09/2022

This article... well, it made me sad. Not because Mom didn't want to have baby skin-to-skin immediately after birth, but because her doula didn't empower her and trust her lead.

When talking with my clients and formulating birth preferences, we discuss The Golden Hour. But I always, always say, "This is the plan, but if it changes in the moment, we roll with it!"

Maybe you're tired. Maybe you've been laboring forever and you just want a shower. Whatever the case may be, my priority is my client - if you want someone else to hold baby while you get your bearings, your word is law. I would never, ever make you feel as if that were the wrong choice.

Your baby. Your body. Your birth.

Skin-to-skin contact is important. But sometimes it's oversold.

02/02/2022

Love this explanation ❤ YOU HAVE AUTONOMY IN YOUR BIRTH ❤❤

“🤎🤍🅸🅽🅵🅾🆁🅼🅴🅳 🅲🅾🅽🆂🅴🅽🆃🤍🤎

Being educated and knowledgeable is absolutely vital ; informed consent and informed refusal are both so important in a birth setting.

Informed consent is NOT telling you what is going to happen, it is INFORMING you on the benefits and risks of your choices and letting you make an informed decision.

There are topics that need to be discussed and researched before you give birth, that way you are aware of everything that is going on and educated on the choices that may be presented to you.

"Well how do I do that?"
🤎Hire a doula
🤎Take a birth education class

You have choices; you have options. “✨

02/02/2022

When I tell you I've been saying this for years, I've been saying this for *years*.

Did you have IV fluids during your birth? Something to consider. I included some studies on this at the end.

From Freya Birth

EARLY INFANT WEIGHT LOSS
Until now, weight loss during the first 3 to 4 days after birth has been considered one indicator of how early breastfeeding is going. If on Day 4 a newborn’s weight loss is in the average range of 5% to 7%, this usually means breastfeeding is going well. Nearly all babies lose some weight after birth.
But when babies lose more than 7% of birth weight during these early days, does this automatically mean they are not getting enough milk? Nope! Not according to recent studies.
A greater weight loss may be completely unrelated to breastfeeding and due instead to excess IV fluids mothers receive within the final 2 hours before delivery. These excess IV fluids inflate babies’ birth weight in utero and act as a diuretic after birth. Babies whose mothers received more IV fluids before birth urinated more during their first 24 hours and as a result lost more weight.
This was true whether the babies were born vaginally or by c-section.
This weight loss has nothing whatsoever to do with breastfeeding and milk intake. If you want a more accurate measurement, you should use the babys birth weight at 24 hours as the starting point instead of directly after birth.
📷: Salt City Birth and Newborn Photography

https://internationalbreastfeedingjournal.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1746-4358-6-9

https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2009-2663

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1948093/

https://evidencebasedbirth.com/iv-fluids-during-labor/

https://sci-hub.se/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2011.01321.x

http://www.nancymohrbacher.com/articles/2011/10/31/newborn-weight-loss-and-iv-fluids-in-labor.html

01/28/2022

Doula Q&A