Alternate feeding methods for a newborn baby - How To

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrrC5NyNnQ

Learn 4 ways to feed a newborn baby apart from a baby bottle to preserve breastfeeding. 1) Syringe 2) Spoon 3) Cup 4) Finger feeding with SNS (At Breast Supp...

4 Easy Steps to Using the Haakaa Pump

Tips on using the Haakaa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8CBfeDVc0

0:31 Haakaa Pump https://amzn.to/2KkVKdz Did you know there's a right way and a wrong way to use a Haakaa silicone breast pump? Check out this video and lear...

Monet Nicole - Birthing Stories

Sending TONS of love to you all this Father's Day.

Dads, we see you. Because it’s not just her birth story…it’s your birth story too.

We see the worry in your eyes, we see the strength in your arms, and we’re continually moved by the gentleness of your love. We watch you hold hands, catch babies, pray for miracles, pace halls, jump in birth tubs, apply counter-pressure, cut cords, and melt into a puddle as soon as you hold your child in your arms.

Thank you for all that you do. This is what being a man looks like…this is what fatherhood looks like. And it’s beautiful.

Can't help but cry at this beautiful video by Birth Becomes Her. ... See more

Doula Brooke

Birth on my brain today, reflecting on approaching 50 births and 3 years offering services to expecting families.


When we are invited to an event, we usually head to the store and pick out a cute outfit, maybe we make a dish and bring it along to the hostess. The event has a place for us and people we may or may not want to see or talk with. But we go because we are excited to see who invited us there plus it’s rude to decline an invitation (unless you are a birth worker haha!)
How the event unrolls is dictated by the people who are around you, you generally find a place and people to small talk with, grab a couple drinks to loosen up and maybe participate in some of the activities around you. Otherwise you sit and hang for a few hours before heading home.
(This occurs in hospital births because of standard procedures that are really tricky to control or navigate, even after doing our work, so much we CAN'T do with the exception of the few progressive hospitals out there)

An experience is something you have planned out, saved for, like a vacation to tour new places. Some of us hire a travel agent to help us pick the best places to visit to ensure we see all the greatest spots. “If you go here, make sure you have _____ so you are prepared” may be some of the travel agent’s suggestions. The places you end up visiting you have planned out for months, have read about, looked at pictures and have dreamt up this trip. When you arrive, it’s familiar and beyond your expectations. You are among people who have a similar goal and vision. You guide the flow of your day and are guaranteed an amazing time. You leave a better person with experiences and memories to share for a lifetime. (This usually occurs in birth centers and DEFINITELY home births)

You see the difference, right?

I have been honored to be called upon to be a tour guide for birthing people over the last three years, witnessing birth now 50 times. I’ve also been blessed to experience birthing my two children. As a birth doula, I am usually the first person to hear their birth dreams, their wishes, what would make their birth an experience not an event. One of the first nuggets of knowledge that is shared with me is what their birth looks like (usually FAR away from what media has portrayed). My response usually includes, “Great, now how does your birth provider support that” or “How does your birth location support that”? The answers have varied over the years and so have the outcomes.

I’ve kept my own notes along the years, I’m a birth nerd and like to understand birth outcomes based on birth choices and options. One thing is for sure - who you select as your provider AND where you birth your baby is ESSENTIAL to what plays out in your birth. How you were cared for and supported ties nicely into this and is equally important.

Hospitals were not always where we gave birth believe it or not. Home is where we birthed our babies, in a familiar space surrounded by our midwife and women of our circle/family who knew us and loved us the most. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that we decided to scare the pants off of people and open the doors in hospitals for birthing people as a desirable and so-called sterile place to have our babies. Women were no longer the ones catching our babies, it was men, actually trained surgeons called obstetricians. All of sudden, what we knew of birth, midwives and homebirth were no longer a safe option for us (they said).

What changed?? Birth became a business, hospitals introduced policies, drugs compromised our memories and altered our experiences, women suffered trauma, birth became scary, babies were injured, medicine and insurance overruled…add in the media and we’ve moved so far away from experiencing birth and just making a quick event to get to our babies with really shitty outcomes that transition into our ability to parent.

What are we missing? The pieces that make birth an experience...CARE, CHOICES, SUPPORT.

I can tell you where you can really fantastic care, I’ve seen STELLAR, good, decent, shitty, down right traumatic and abusive…

The best care I have seen to date are with midwives that offer us choices. Choices that lead us away from birth being an event and leading the way to an experience, one where we were heard, supported and offered an opportunity to let our bodies guide the way and our babies to tell us when it’s time to meet.

The best outcomes I have seen to date are from home births. Birthing people staying in a free-flowing state of oxytocin, no chaos, no transfers, minimal technology yet all the ways needed to support an emergency (which is rare).

If you had to pick an event or an experience, what would you choose? Yes, it usually costs a little more which means a bit more planning and saving…it will be the best thing you do in your life. (take it from this tour guide) ... See more