Dyamonds Doulas Journeys

07/15/2024

After successfully expanding our family, we are now fully equipped to resume our services and provide exceptional virtual birth doula support. We eagerly await the opportunity to serve you.

As a caring Doula, I provide all the emotional, educational and physical support you need during pregnancy, labor and beyond. Whether you’re interested in a birthing class, labor support or breastfeeding advice and even virtual support . I’m here for you. For more detailed packages fill out a co...

04/07/2024

This is my labor and delivery vlog This is for educational purposes only I was induced on January 9 at 9:30 at night but they didn’t start Pitocin until one ...

06/17/2023

Prolactin

noun: a hormone released from the anterior pituitary gland that stimulates milk production

Prolactin stimulates breast growth and makes milk during pregnancy and birth.

The prolactin level is highest about 30-45 minutes after the beginning of the feed, so its most important effect is to make milk for the next feed.

The more a baby suckles and stimulates the breast, the more prolactin is produced, and the more milk is made.

Base levels of prolactin increase the most in the immediate postnatal period, but rise and fall in response to the frequency, intensity and duration of ni**le stimulation.

After the first week base levels of prolactin fall about 50% in lactating people, but return to non-lactating rate by about 1 week if they are not breastfeeding.

Prolactin levels also follow a circadian rhythm. Levels are higher at night than they are in the daytime. This is why night feeds are so important for establishing milk production.

The more feeding, the higher levels of prolactin. More than eight breastfeeds in 24 hours prevents the decline in prolactin levels before the next feed is due.

Pumping also increases prolactin levels but it is worth noting that levels are less than when baby nurses directly. This is one of the reasons it can be more challenging to establish and maintain milk production if exclusively pumping is necessary.

Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, Wambach and Spencer, 2019

Mug available at hmfgifts.com
donations going to The Human Milk Foundation

06/17/2023

06/17/2023

“Your breast milk continues to change to meet the nutritional needs of your growing child. It provides crucial immunities, enzymes and vitamins that your child may not get from solid foods, ensuring he or she is as healthy as possible. Breast milk can also be a cure-all for many bugs your child may catch, especially if he or she is sharing germs with other kids at daycare or on play dates.”

The benefits of breast-feeding beyond infancy for a child include:

✨Balanced nutrition. Breast milk is considered the gold standard for infant nutrition. There's no known age at which breast milk is considered to become nutritionally insignificant for a child.

✨Boosted immunity. As long as you breast-feed, the cells, hormones and antibodies in your breast milk will continue to bolster your child's immune system.

The benefits of breast-feeding beyond infancy for a mother include:

✨Reduced risk of certain illnesses. Breast-feeding for 12 months or more cumulatively in life has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

Source (words): MAYOCLINIC
Source (content): Dewey 2001

Other Info: ⤵️

“Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins.”
— Dewey 2001

Studies done in rural Bangladesh have shown that breastmilk continues to be an important source of vitamin A in the second and third year of life.
— Persson 1998

“Human milk in the second year postpartum contained significantly higher concentrations of total protein, lactoferrin, lysozyme and Immunoglobulin A, than milk bank samples, and significantly lower concentrations of zinc, calcium, iron and oligosaccharides.”
— Perrin 2016

Breastfeeding toddlers between the ages of one and three have been found to have fewer illnesses, illnesses of shorter duration, and lower mortality rates (Mølbak 1994, van den Bogaard 1991, Gulick 1986).

A couple of studies have shown a positive relationship between longer breastfeeding duration and social development.
— Duazo 2010, Baumgartner 1984
Repost https://instagram.com/moomysmilk?utm_medium=copy_link

06/17/2023

Understanding Growth Charts

One of the ways we can tell if baby is doing well is to make sure they are gaining weight appropriately.

In the red book you will find the WHO growth charts for boys and girls. The WHO charts are based on a large cohort of breastfed babies from around the world.

The x axis (horizontal) shows baby's age in both weeks and months. The y axis (vertical) shows baby's weight.

Baby's birth weight will be plotted on the far left on the y axis. We expect to see an initial weight loss after birth and so we do not plot these first few weights on the chart. We wait until baby is 2 wks old before we plot.

The weight plotted at 2 wks will be the percentile we expect the baby to roughly stick to over the coming months, not the percentile at birth.

On the diagram the baby was not plotted until 3 wks, and at that point the baby weighed 3.5kg. This means baby is on the 25th percentile. All this indicates is that 25% of the population are this weight or smaller. It is ok for baby to stay on the 25th percentile. They do not have to be on the 50th to be ok. A baby tracking the 2nd percentile is just as healthy as a baby tracking the 98th percentile. At 4 wks baby was around 3.8kg. At 2 months baby was around 4.9 kg and had moved a little towards the 50th percentile.

Babies do not grow in a straight line. They meander around a bit, growing in spurts. So we like to see a general trend following a curve but baby may move between two lines and be fine.

If a baby crosses two or more lines downwards, from the 2 wks weight onwards, then it can be an indication that something is not going well, so should be investigated. Upwards is less of an issue, especially if excl breastfed.

Babies are generally weighed at birth, several times until baby back birth weight. After that we suggest not weighing more than once every 4 wks or so if all is well. If babies are struggling with weight gain weighing more frequently is appropriate until the baby begins to track a line.

If baby is born prematurely (

06/17/2023

Nope 👇

Some facts about nuchal cords:

🔆 Nuchal cords are incredibly common, occurring in an estimated 1 of 3 births.

🔆 They are very rarely dangerous.

🔆 Fetuses receive oxygen through the umbilical cord, not by breathing through the mouth or nose, so a cord around the neck is not cutting off their air like it would for you or me. If the cord is left in tact, the baby can still be receiving oxygen from the placenta for several minutes after birth.

🔆 Most babies with a nuchal cord have one that is very loose and it can be simply slipped over the head after birth. There is usually no indication of the nuchal cord at all.

🔆 The main way for a nuchal cord to be harmful (if the cord is healthy) is if it is wrapped multiple times and is so tight that it compresses itself, thereby decreasing blood flow inside, or if there is a true knot so tight that it does the same (rare). The cord would have to be extremely tight to cut off blood flow between the body and brain.

🔆 Nuchal cord is very difficult to identify before birth, even with ultrasound.

🔆 You do not need to have a c-section solely due to a suspected nuchal cord.

🔆 Medications given during a birth induction/augmentation can cause erratic & extra strong contractions, causing heart decelerations in the fetus. If a c-section is performed and a nuchal cord is discovered, it is frequently blamed (though the cause was more likely the induction meds). This can lead the mother to feel her baby was "saved" by the hospital staff, when they may have actually been the ones to CAUSE the issues the baby was "saved" from.

🔆 A healthy umbilical cord is filled with a gelatinous substance called Wharton's Jelly that protects the cord vessels as a fetus twists and turns its way inside the uterus.

If you want to read up on the evidence on nuchal cord, visit my Instagram account () and scroll back to my post of that name.

06/17/2023

A great reminder from one of my teachers Michelle Emanuel… if you just went through a frenectomy with your baby…and several of my clients recently have or will do soon… this is excellent advice!
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385-325-1950

06/17/2023

05/28/2023

is a 💜! Baby Noah gets 🧸