January might be the grand finale of the holiday season and the beginning of new resolutions, but it also has a very important significance in the birth world.
Each January, we strive to raise awareness for birth defects in our country with the observation of Birth Defect Awareness Month. This month and throughout the remainder of the year, we set out to help parents make more informed decisions regarding safe pregnancy, that may affect their baby’s health at birth.
There’s a misconception about birth defects and we are setting out to change the conversation.
Birth defects affect more babies each year than people think. According to the CDC, every 4.5 minutes a child is born with a major birth defect in the United States.
Some defects are visible and others remain silent. Many defects even go undetected at the time of birth, creating larger problems as the baby develops into the first few months or even years postpartum. A birth defect can be devastating for parents, particularly those that can be avoided. Birth defects can be incredibly serious as they directly affect the quality of life for children and their families with physical and emotional challenges as a person ages.
Many defects are preventable with responsible choices and monitoring during pregnancy. Avoiding tobacco, avoiding alcohol, eating healthy balanced meals, and regular prenatal exams are just some of the ways parents can decrease the chance of defects and promote a healthier birth.
Alongside healthy pregnancy decisions, many care providers may recommend supplementing your diet with folic acid during pregnancy. You might choose to take additional precautions during your prenatal exams like vaccinations and supplements. Stay empowered through your pregnancy by reaching out for more information and resources about the risks of birth defects, prevention methods and treatment resources.
For families that are affected by various birth defects, a strong support system is important. Some defects may create postpartum challenges to navigate and a doula support system can help eliminate stress for overwhelmed new parents. Your doula can help you understand different defects and their origins or help you prepare for a challenging birth.
Although January is at a close, it’s not too late to recognize birth defects, raise awareness and promote prevention strategies.
There’s tons of great resources for parents struggling with birth complications and defects, and even more of these foundations that need your support. If you’re interested in giving back to birth defect resources in your area, contact our team or The Center for Disease Control to take the first step or learn more.
The new year means an opportunity to rejuvenate and refresh yourself.
Incorporating meditation into your day will help you manage stress and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle. Emotional self care will help you improve your concentration and even help you feel more confident. Improved concentration actually increases energy so you’ll have plenty of extra energy for your workouts and playtime with the kids.
Whether your meditation is in a group class or just a few minutes of relaxation at home, meditation is sure to bring you some uplifting clarity for the new year ahead.
Practice Self Awareness
When you take the time each day to wind down, you’ll experience more emotional clarity. When you become more comfortable managing your emotions during meditation, it provides feel-good confidence. Self care isn’t all bubble baths and salon trips. Your daily dose of self care can be as simple as devoting a few minutes a day to yourself.You’ll be able to recognize negative emotions and detach yourself from them, leaving space for positive energy. Meditation puts you on the right track for a happier lifestyle.Meditation can also help symptoms of postpartum anxiety and depression
Improve Physical Health
Meditation doesn’t exclusively nourish your emotional well being and can actually do great things for your physical health. Meditating regularly improves immune system, boosts metabolism, improves quality of sleep and brain functioning. If you’re starting out the new year trying to kick start a healthy lifestyle, meditation should find it’s way into your new routine. Meditation can start your day or help you wind down before bed and after a workout. These relaxation strategies also help alleviate tension related muscle pain, migraines and insomnia.
Stress can create serious cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure and heart attacks. Meditation relaxes blood vessels to regulate blood pressure. When your body is more relaxed, your internal organs work more harmoniously to help you reach your fitness goals.
Improve Relationships
When you meditate regularly, you’re happier and happiness is contagious. Starting a family can create extra strain on relationships, causing some anxiety and tension between new parents. Incorporating some relaxation and meditation each day can be bring parents closer together and help them eliminate stress. Regularly attending meditation workshops with friends can create a strong support system for each other, encouraging you to stick with your meditation routine. New to the meditation scene? Why not try something new and find a relaxing yoga
A strong beginning to the new year starts with a healthy mind and body.
Meditation works in conjunction with your healthy lifestyle changes to give you a fresh start. Start with fifteen minutes a day and you can slowly incorporate longer meditation sessions as you progress.
If you are newly postpartum, your doula can help you find the opportunity throughout the day to practice self care and meditate. Relaxation and meditation is often the best ll-natural medicine for postpartum recovery.
In the world of baby care, doulas are raising the standard for labor and postpartum support.
Our team of professional doulas have been trained and certified with the highest standard of care for labor and postpartum clients. Standardized care is important to not only improve the quality of service for families receiving doula services, but to keep our care expectations consistent throughout the agency.
Why is standardized care important?
Consistency is key.
Flexibility is important, and our team of doulas work together to support a client’s busy schedule. Industry standards keep all our doulas on the same page, ensuring each of our clients are getting consistent and exceptional care. When you have a labor doula on call, you’ll always have a backup that is familiar with your family’s birth plan. Without standardized care, it would keep us from meeting the expectations of our clients and their birth team communicating effectively.
There are so many different parenting styles and newborn care techniques to choose from, most of which are passed down through generations and can become outdated. The standards of labor and postpartum care keep doulas interacting with families completely judgement free, only using safe and modern newborn care strategies. Our doulas are well versed on up to date childbirth education curriculum, lactation, the postpartum period and more. Standards in our certifications empower us to fully support families, providing them with resources to answer the questions they have about their child’s health and development. Without the elevated standard, it would leave a lot of doulas unequipped to handle the unique needs of our clients and how to navigate the uncertainties of delivery and newborn care.
Standardized care sets us apart.
Families choose our team of doulas because we provide credentials they can trust.
We certified with Prodoula, the leading agency that supports doulas in their journey to provide families all over the world with exceptional support and non-medical newborn care. The Prodoula standard is so elevated in the industry that they require doulas to regularly re-certify in various elements. These certifications keep us updated on innovative birth and postpartum options for families in our area.
Lone Star Doulas are raising the standards in standardized doula care.
Our staff compassionately and professionally helps support your family as you welcome your newest addition.
Wouldn’t it be great to have an extra set of hands to help you with newborn care and little tasks around the house while you focus on your postpartum recovery?
You can!
A postpartum doula gives new parents the opportunity to settle into their home with their new baby feeling stress free and confident. This trained baby professional helps parents with every element of baby care with the family’s parenting style of choice as a framework for newborn care practices.
Postpartum Recovery
Newly postpartum moms are cared for and comforted as they relax and recover in the difficult days ahead. Self care is an important element of the postpartum recovery process. Having a doula at home encourages mothers to devote time each day to self care, making their transition home stress free. Parents have an amazing newborn care resource available to answer questions they have or give them some extra confidence as they get the hang of baby care and their new routines.
A doula is there to help you develop a feeding and sleeping schedule, bias free and encouraging the parenting style of your choice. If you are breastfeeding, your postpartum doula can help you learn all the breastfeeding basics and how to make your breastfeeding journey a positive experience. Access to a doula means a variety of modern parenting resources at your fingertips and you can be confident that your family is fully prepared to bring home baby.
Sibling Care
If you have older children it can be intimidating to bring home a new baby. Your doula can help care for your older kids or take over baby care so parents can spend some quality time with their other babies. Especially during breaks from school, a postpartum doula can be the extra set of hands to keep a new mom calm and collected. When you are able to divide your time, there is typically less sibling jealousy and negative behavioral responses to the introduction of a new baby. A doula encourages bonding between parents and baby and their big brothers and sisters.
Meal Prep
Your doula is there to help nurture your entire family and facilitate the transition home with a new baby. While balancing a newborn care routine and household tasks, making dinner plans can be the furthest from your mind. Your doula can help you plan and prepare meals that will boost your energy during the postpartum period and help your body recover. Some extra help in the kitchen will keep your family’s meal routines on track and settling down to new baby life seamlessly.
A postpartum doula is an expert in all things comfort and baby.
Having a postpartum doula is the extra peace of mind for new parents, keeping them fully prepared and supported as they welcome the newest addition to their family.
Finding the postpartum healing resources that are right for you can be exhausting.
It’s no mistake that placenta encapsulation has been around for centuries as an effective way for new mothers to recover postpartum. The placenta is a powerhouse of important hormones that helps women bond with their newborn, improve lactation supply, creating oxytocin and banishing postpartum depression. Containing stress-reducing hormones, many women also experience more energy and less fatigue
During the initial phase of postpartum healing, your uterus slowly begins to shrink back to normal and with the help of hormones your body naturally produces. Consuming encapsulated placenta helps your body heal, in an all natural way.
In home encapsulation is raising the standard for placenta processing in the United States.
Processing placenta requires a sterile environment and professional handling to ensure a safe and effective finished product. When your placenta is processed in your own home, the organ never leaves your possession and you can be sure that your home is clean and safe. If you want to be actively involved in the process, you can engage in the process by watching and asking questions you have as they arise. Or you can sit comfortably in the other room and be confident your placenta is being handled by a trained and certified professional.
Not only is your encapsulator a specialist in their field, they also have extensive experience with postpartum recovery, newborn care, breastfeeding and more. While your placenta is being encapsulated, you can ask your specialist about questions and concerns you might have about your first few days home with your newborn.
Placenta encapsulation is a powerful resource to combat postpartum depression and anxiety. If you’ve experienced symptoms of postpartum depression with your first baby, your chances of experiencing the same emotional distress nearly double with your second child. Most women who utilize placenta during their postpartum period, experience a quicker, more pleasant recovery with reduced or eliminated symptoms of postpartum anxiety or depression.
In home placenta encapsulation puts postpartum women in complete control of the process.
With some extra help getting yourself back on track with your postpartum recovery, your body can heal and recover more efficiently, offering new mothers a little extra peace of mind. Ask your doula team how placenta encapsulation can help you stay in control of your physical and emotional recovery during the fourth trimester.
Our compassionate staff is there to help parents transition home with their new baby and feeling confident, supported and healthy throughout the entire process.
