Smallest Things Doula Services

03/22/2023

Happy WORLD DOULA WEEK!! Join us as we celebrate and share all week!

03/07/2023

Love this!

“I Won’t Hold Your Baby

…unless you ask me to, in which case, I will snuggle and cuddle your baby as much as you want me to.

I never ask my clients if I can hold their baby. In fact, I rarely ever touch my client’s baby if I can help it. Sounds sort of like the opposite of what you might picture of a doula, right? We must all be birth crazy, baby obsessed women who just want to cover babies in kisses and love and get an emotional high from attending births?

Not this doula.

I LOVE attending births. Call me crazy, but getting those middle of the night calls is one of my favorite parts of this job. I get to listen to someone at their most vulnerable times - the excitement, the hesitation, the nervousness of the unknown. Being able to provide some comfort, reassurance and continuity of care to the people I work with is so important to me (and them!)

Rushing off in the night, quietly getting myself ready, getting in the car and heading off to their home or hospital makes me feel like I’m on a secret birth mission that nobody around me knows about. When I arrive I fall as seamlessly as I can into the rhythm of the birth and start supporting my clients in whatever way they need most.

When the baby arrives I step aside and leave room for the new parents to discover their baby. I try and grab some photos (I’m not a birth photographer though, so keep your expectations in check!) and then I only step in if my client needs me for some reason.

Why does that matter? Why won’t I ask to hold your baby? Simply because: they are yours, not mine. I want you to be able to hold your baby as close as you want, for as long as you want without anyone interrupting that time. There will be enough people coming along in the next few hours and weeks who need to take that baby out of your arms for whatever reason, and tons of friends and family who will offer help by “holding the baby”.

Instead, I want to hold you, whether that’s in my arms, in my heart or my thoughts. By supporting and “holding” you, I don’t need to hold your baby. But if you ask me to, I would LOVE to.”

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01/22/2023

I am often asked for bottle recommendations. There is no one size fits all when it comes to bottle selection. The best bottle for your family may depend on your family’s feeding goals, your baby’s oral anatomical structure, milk flow rate, and many other factors. However, when a parent is planning on combination breast/chestfeeding and bottle feeding, there are a few things to consider when choosing a bottle ni**le shape to support that body feeding journey.

There is no such thing as a bottle that functions just like breastfeeding. Many bottles are made to “look” like a breast or marketed to be “closest to breast”, but that does not mean they will function in the baby’s mouth like a breast.

Often, bottles with ni**les made to look like a breast are wide at the base of the ni**le (the part near the bottle collar). A new parent may choose one of these bottles based on the look and shape- if it looks like a breast, it acts as a breast, right? Not in this case. In most cases, baby cannot get a deep enough latch on the ni**le and the part that gets abruptly wider keeps them from getting that part of the ni**le into their mouth- so they end up chomping on the narrow part of the ni**le and getting a shallow latch. If the wide part of the ni**le is super soft and flexible, the baby’s lips can actually compress that part of the ni**le leading to leaking milk and baby sucking in air.

My top bottle choice for a chestfed baby is one with a gradual increase in width of ni**le. This shape is ideal for the breastfed baby because this allows and encourages the baby's lips to fl**ge out correctly and for the baby to get a good portion of the ni**le (not just the tip) in their mouth. We want to see a nice wide open mouth with a good seal on the bottle just as we do on the breast. Two brands that are a great example of this ni**le shape are the Evenflo Baby Balance and Lansinoh USA (The bottom left and bottom middle photos.) Another option is a bottle with a narrow ni**le down to the bottle collar (like the bottom right photo). The goal when using these bottles is to have the entire ni**le in baby's mouth. Essentially, your baby’s lips should be touching and flanging out on the bottle collar.

By selecting a bottle ni**le that supports a healthy latch and a slow flow that mimics the work it takes to receive milk at the breast, you can help set your little one up for success switching between body feeding and bottle feeding!

10/31/2022

Love this!

Love it! Would make a cute gift! 🥰

👉https://amzn.to/3TDuV4U

(We may receive a small portion of any purchase, at no extra cost to you.)

10/30/2022

Truth😅

09/19/2022

🗣Listen up lactation professionals!! Our times of suggesting heat first, digging into the breast with something that vibrates, and pump to empty are now over! Many of the new recommendations are practically opposite of what we have been taught over the years.

🛑The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has change the mastitis protocol ( #36)🛑

The new protocol tells us:
✅ Feed the infant on demand and/or pump on your normal schedule- don't aim to "empty" the breasts or increase demand.
❌ No extra pumping, no aiming to "drain" the breast or the infected area. You can't suck mastitis out and increasing supply makes inflammation worse.
✅ Ice packs or cold compresses to help reduce inflammation
❌ Hot compresses can increase inflammation and make the swelling worse
✅ Gentle, sweeping lymphatic massage towards the armpit to help drain extra fluid (not milk) in the breast and... you get it... reduce inflammation
❌ Aggressive kneading and squeezing of the breast can make the swelling and inflammation worse
✅ Anti-inflammatory foods and OTC medications
⚠️ Mastitis is NOT always a bacterial infection, so antibiotics aren't always needed- sometimes they can have an anti-inflammatory side effect so it looks like they're making the mastitis better when they're not.

Read much more and check out the new ABM protocol here:

https://www.bfmed.org/assets/ABM%20Protocol%20%2336.pdf

08/14/2022

They say it gets easier
That sleep will come
That they’ll move to solids
And be walking by one
⠀
They say it gets easier
That experience will help
That you’ll find your feet
Forget how hard it felt
⠀
They say it gets easier
They’ll learn to talk
They’ll tie their own shoes
Use a knife and fork
⠀
They say it gets easier
That the fun will start
You’ll have more time
More light, less dark
⠀
They say it gets easier
Your arms will flow free
School bags on backs
Your bed now empty
⠀
They say it gets easier
You’ll feel yourself again
You’ll leave the house more
And remember your brain
⠀
They say it gets easier
And perhaps they’re right
Practically speaking anyway
But it’s not black and white
⠀
Because it doesn’t feel easier
Not emotionally anyway
To have to let go
When you’d love them to stay
⠀
Because it doesn’t feel easier
When they need you less
When you wait for their call
When your mind’s a mess
⠀
Because it doesn’t feel easier
The worry doesn’t stop
They are your whole world
Your heart forever in knots
⠀
Because it doesn’t feel easier
To love so much
To lean into trust
To lose your touch
⠀
Because it doesn’t feel easier
No matter their stage
To see your forever babies
Grow away with age.
⠀
- Emma Heaphy -
Artwork: Art by Chloe Trayhurn
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08/06/2022

Doula friends, this is an event you don’t want to miss!

We are pleased to have Judith Simon Prager, PhD, as our Presenting speaker this year! Dr. Prager is the Author of The Worst is Over: Verbal First Aid.

"Since 2001, I have taught the protocol of Verbal First Aid—how to speak in medical emergencies to calm, relieve pain, promote healing, and save lives—to firefighters, emergency medical personnel, doctors, nurses and police officers across the United States and around the world.”

Find more information about Dr. Prager here: https://judithprager.com/

07/23/2022

you. need. a. doula. i really can’t stress this enough. it doesn’t matter if you’re birthing at home, a birth center, or a hospital. you need the support and advocacy from someone who has seen this process many times. who knows the ebbs and flows of labor. who ~understands~ the process and can guide you through it. someone who is not worried about the medical side of things. someone that is 100% there to support you physically, emotionally, and sometimes spiritually, through the process.

doulas are so much more than a couple hip squeezes. this photo shows it all. your doula is there. right there. telling you that you’ve got this. reminding you why you’re doing this. making you feel safe. making sure you are heard. and making sure you are completely supported.

in a study done on the impact on doula support in labor, they found that those who had a doula also had -

🌙 39% decrease in the risk of cesarean

🌙 15% increase in spontaneous vaginal birth

🌙 10% decrease in the use of medications for pain relief

🌙 38% decrease in the risk of low 5-minute apgar scores

🌙 31% decrease in the risk of being dissatisfied by your birth experience

🌙 shorter labors by 41 minutes on average

trust me. hire a doula. PLEASE. you deserve to have the best chance at the best outcome for your birth 💗

06/22/2022

Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics released the 2022 safe sleep guidelines! There have been many updates to the previous guidelines. I urge you to read through the first few tables. Table 1 lists definitions of terms, table 2 is a summary of recommendations with different levels of strength of these recommendations, and table 3 lists the safe sleep guidelines that have been substantially revised since 2016. Here are a few notable changes in the guidelines:

-It is recommended that weighted blankets, weighted sleepers, weighted swaddles, or other weighted objects not be placed on or near the sleeping infant.

-When an infant exhibits signs of attempting to roll (which usually occurs at 3–4 mo but may occur earlier), swaddling is no longer appropriate because it could increase the risk of suffocation if the swaddled infant rolls to the prone position. (To clarify after Dr. Moon's previous 8 week recommendation which is not in line AAP guidance)

-Given the questionable benefit of hat use for the prevention of hypothermia and the risk of overheating, it is advised not to place hats on infants when indoors except in the first hours of life or in the NICU.

-Sleep surfaces with inclines of >10 degrees are unsafe for infant sleep.

-It is recommended that infants sleep in the parents’ room, close to the parents’ bed, but on a separate surface designed for infants, ideally for at least the first 6 mo. (Removing the previous recommendation of “ideally for the first year of life”)

-The AAP understands and respects that many parents choose to routinely bed share for a variety of reasons, including facilitation of breastfeeding, cultural preferences, and belief that it is better and safer for their infant. However, based on the evidence, we are unable to recommend bed sharing under any circumstances. (This one goes on further)

-Direct-to-consumer heart rate and pulse oximetry monitoring devices, including wearable monitors, are sold as consumer wellness devices. A consumer wellness device is defined by the FDA as one intended “for maintaining or encouraging a healthy lifestyle and is unrelated to the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, prevention, or treatment of a disease or condition.” Thus, these devices are not required to meet the same regulatory requirements as medical devices and, by the nature of their FDA designation, are not to be used to prevent sleep-related deaths. Although use of these monitors may give parents peace of mind, and there is no contraindication to using these monitors, data are lacking that would support their use to reduce the risk of these deaths. There is also concern that use of these monitors will lead to parent complacency and decreased adherence to safe sleep guidelines. A family’s decision to use monitors at home should not be considered a substitute for following AAP safe sleep guidelines.

Read through the full AAP publication release here:
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/doi/10.1542/peds.2022-057990/188304/Sleep-Related-Infant-Deaths-Updated-2022?fs=e?autologincheck=redirected

06/21/2022

Love that I was able to be part of this beautiful birth!

intermittent doppler fetal monitoring in an out of hospital setting looks like this. no disruption of labor to make you lay on your back. no itchy monitors strapped to you. no one telling you you “can’t” lay in that position because it messes with the monitors. every 15-30 min during the first stage of labor, they quietly maneuver themselves around you, listen to your baby through a contraction, then sneak away like they were never there. unless they spot an issue with baby’s heart rate, there is no reason for you to be constantly monitored in a healthy, low-risk pregnancy.

intermittent DOPPLER fetal monitoring for the win!! 🌟🦋🌱

05/13/2022