The Week's New Mom Circle

Wednesday, September 21st, Sally Leissner, LMT joined in our mom circle at Butterfly Elements as our guest speaker. Sally is a favorite and has come to teach infant massage a couple times to my circles. This time we all learned a lot about CranioSacral.

CS is gentle and relaxing, with only light pressure. I'm sure Sally's calm and loving energy makes CranioSacral with her even more beneficial.

Sometimes energy, fluid, can become "stuck" as it travels from your brain, down your spinal column, and back up to your brain. CS gets it moving again.

It can be very beneficial after any experience where you felt stressed or scared, when adrenaline floods your body. She has had moms who were having low milk supply issues,and while doing CS they relaxed and let down, milk began to flow.

In a class I took recently, the instructor told us that CS can be beneficial for moms who have had cesareans. Some practioners even smell anesthesia leaving the body.

Sally has also had great success helping babies who are having latch issues. With CS they calm, open wider, cry less. Babies who especially benefit from CS are any who have had any head trauma such as from forceps, vacuum extraction, a long pushing stage, being in a sub-optimal position such as posterior.

She also helps children with Autism and ADD slow their energy down and calm.

Any age can benefit! Sally had personal experience with healing through CS after she was in a couple car accidents as an adult. She had CS done on herself, and it helped so much she wanted to offer it to others.

If you missed Sally, she is going to join us at the Central Texas Birth Center on 10/12! Join us anytime from 10am to Noon.

Next Wednesday Hanna Ford, LMT, will share with us why she chooses to practice Attachment Parenting with her baby!

© 2011 Sarah Webb, CD(DONA). All rights reserved.

A Young Breastfeeding Advocate

On Thursday, August 18th, 2011 I drove down to Zilker Park in Austin to see the Latch on America tour bus. The Big Pink Bus was on a 45-day nation wide tour, with visits in 30 or more cities! They advocate breastfeeding, evidence based information, and support of breastfeeding mothers. Here is a quote from their website:

"Our goals are to work collaboratively to empower pregnant and breastfeeding moms by connecting them to local experts and counselors, baby-friendly hospitals and birthing centers, support groups, and other mothers who are out there and want so much to help. Instantly, new moms will get the support, encouragement, and shoulder to lean on that they need to have a successful breastfeeding journey."

I chose a button that said "No pressure. Just support." And, as someone who visits a Farmer's market weekly and loves to "eat local", I decided to get one more button that said "Drink Local."

Check them out at http://www.milkforthought.com/

As a doula, I offer new moms support, information, encouragement and a shoulder to lean on. If the mom needs help from a breastfeeding expert, I offer resources. One of the most important things I offer is New Mom Circles. At the Latch on Event, there was an impromptu mom's circle as moms came and gathered together. I loved seeing the different shapes and sizes of breast fed babies, all healthy, all normal. One lady with a very adorable, chubby baby had this to say "My doctor told me that some moms produce cream."

I'm all for men advocating breastfeeding, but I was surprised when I only saw two men with the Latch on Tour. There were a lot of local breast feeding advocates there as well. Central Texas Doula Association doulas. Central Texas Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition selling calendars full of beautiful nursing art work. I had to buy one! Mother's Milk Bank had a table, with a mom and her daughter. Hospital nurses and lactation consultants were there too. And, of course, there were breast feeding mothers and their babies. My friend, Orieta Ender, a lactation consultant at Seton Williamson came with her baby. At under 2 months, and with a "Keep Austin Breastfeeding" onesie, he might have been the youngest advocate present!

© 2011 Sarah Webb, CD(DONA). All rights reserved.

New Mom Circles

I have been facilitating mom circles for over a year now. I love it! It is amazing to be a part of community building. Where once a mom may have felt isolated and lonely, she develops deep and lasting friendships with other new moms as they share the journey with all its ups and downs. Where she once was starved for a two-way conversation, she finds validation and gets to share her wisdom and learn from other new moms. Self-doubt fades and she finds she is not the only one wondering "is this normal".

Today, September 14th, we met at the beautiful Central Texas Birth Center. The topic was Soothing Your Baby. Allison Coleman joined me in offering some helpful tips. She is a local doula who specializes in overnight care.

We talked about the importance of self-soothing first. An infant’s cry will elicit a strong, even biological, response in mom. Your heart beat will speed up, your milk may leak. I read a book called In Pursuit of Silence. There was a study done and to sum it up a baby's cry is right at the tone we find most annoying, it is impossible to ignore. The upside is a baby’s laugh was rated the most enjoyable sound! That said…

When your baby is crying, it can be very helpful for you to take just a couple seconds and pause. Babies are intuitive. They read your facial expression, and feel your energy. This pause will also help you slow down, and babies do best when you move calmly and slowly. When you try many different soothing strategies too quickly, none of them will be effective. Remind yourself that crying is just how your baby communicates.

In CALMS, Carrie Contey encourages you to:
• Check in with yourself. How are you feeling?
• Allow a breath. Accept how you are feeling. (I say, take another deep breath.)
• Listen to your baby. (Remember to pay attention to your baby’s body language as well.)
• Mirror your baby. “I am here” “I love you” “I know, you are…. (tired, hungry, I know it’s been a really busy day, etc). Remember how you feel when your feelings are accepted and validated compared to how you feel when someone rushes into “problem solve”.
• Soothe- now is the time to start soothing your baby.

We also talked about how other cultures take better care of new mothers, and that some American mothers are very independent and do not ask for help. To parent from a calm, self-centered place you need to ask for and accept help. Build a community for yourself and find other new parents to socialize with. Giving feels great! Give others this opportunity to feel joy in being of help to someone in need. It is not difficult for friends to pick up a few extra things when they are at the grocery store anyway, or to double a recipe when they are already cooking and messing up the kitchen. Self-care is essential to parent this way.

Then we talked about the book The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. This book is very helpful to soothe a new baby. He has re-discovered a few techniques that help soothe babies until they are developmentally capable of learning to self sooth. In the video you can watch him demonstrate the 5 S’s.

Do these things in the order listed:
• Swaddle- babies like to be swaddled. This prevents their startle reflex from waking them up and upsetting them. They are used to being scrunched up! Some babies do prefer to have a hand up by their face. The important thing is for their elbows to be close in to their bodies. If swaddling in hot climates, use a light, breathable blanket and have baby only in a diaper. Watch for signs of overheating.
• Side lying- lay baby on his side, on your arm, cradling his/her head.
• Shh- a baby can hear the difference between a peaceful ocean like sound (even if it is loud) and a “shhhhut up” sound full of frustration. It needs to be loud and close enough baby hears it over his/her crying. There are Aps with white noise, radio on static, and toys that provide this white noise such as the Sleep Sheep. Keep all stuffed animals away from baby’s face. White noise can also help parents and older siblings sleep through the little noises baby makes.
• Swinging- rhythmic jiggling or swinging
• Sucking- breastfeeding, sucking on your finger, or after 4-6 weeks and when breastfeeding is going well, a pacifier can be very soothing to a baby.

The moms in this group also brought up another soothing S: scenery change. Sometimes going outside will really calm a baby and it does wonders for Mom too!

As you can see from the pictures, we have this Baby Soothing thing down! All the babies were sleeping most of the circle.

© 2011 Sarah Webb, CD(DONA), PCD(DONA). All rights reserved.