"Cynthya was our doula for the birth of our third child in April 2016. As this was my third birth, and I had been attended to by a doula at the first two, I knew that finding the right doula was crucial to a successful and satisfying birth." - Winter Wheeler-Young
Treatment of Depression During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period
As a society, we need to remove the stigma of mood disorders and mental illness.
"Several adverse obstetric complications have been reported with untreated prenatal stress and depression, including pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery, low birth weight, miscarriage, small-for-gestational-age babies, low Apgar scores, and neonatal complications.7,8 In addition to being debilitating for the mother, postpartum depression affects maternal-infant interactions and some measures of infant development."
This is an excerpt from this article titled Treatment of Depression During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period, published by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
While there is a fine line between normal hormonal changes and clinical depression and anxiety, any symptomatic woman in the perinatal period should seek clinical evaluation and possibly treatment.
Won't the Medications Cause Harm to Baby?
It is a common concern for women with known depression to be wary of taking medication during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding. Quite frankly, for most pregnant women, there is some sense of fear of putting anything in their bodies. However, more and more is being published about the much GREATER risks of untreated depression in pregnant women. I spoke to an OB and a Pediatrician personally and asked for their opinion on the subject. To paraphrase, each physician emphasized how grateful they are when women come forward with these concerns so that they can be appropriately taken care of. Both of the doctors reiterated the vast research on the damage that untreated chemical imbalances can cause the mother AND the child. There are many safe antidepressant medications for pregnancy and breastfeeding.
There are Facebook support groups for women struggling with pregnancy and postpartum depression/anxiety with literally THOUSANDS of members. This is an epidemic that deserves more attention and less judgment. We are afraid to seek help for fear of looking weak or unfit as a parent.
As a society, we need to remove the stigma of mood disorders and mental illness. A mother who feels out of control of her emotions or feelings should not feel ashamed or like a bad mother. She should feel empowered to do the right thing for herself and her baby and seek the best treatment, as decided by her provider and herself.
Essential Items for Baby and Which to Ditch
Check out our list of must-have essential items to get your nursery stocked and ready for your little bundle(s) of joy!
Having a baby is such an exciting time but we know it can also be overwhelming with so many choices to make during pregnancy. When considering which items to add to your gift registry, the baby aisles may seem enormous and have you wondering which items are really necessary to get. Check out our list of must-have essential items to get your nursery stocked and ready for your little bundle(s) of joy! For a more detailed list of "less major" items, check out our BabyList Registry.
4 Things You Can Do Without
Wipes warmer. Having your baby get used to warm wipes at home won’t do much good when you're out and about and all you have are cold wipes.
Bottle sterilizer. Hot soap and water or running the bottles through the dishwasher kills the germs just as well.
Portable swing. Unless you travel a lot and want an easy swing to take along, this really isn’t necessary.
Stuffed animal with womb sounds. These are much too quiet for baby.
12 Must-Have Baby Items
Pack n Play / Crib / Bassinet or rent or buy a SNOO (they have cribs too)
Swaddle blankets or Swaddle Me wraps; Halo and Sleepea are good choices too. Get a variety of brands/kinds to try out.
Conair white noise sound machine; read why here
Tommee Tippee bottles or try biomimetic bottles (and pump adapters) from Emulait
MAM pacifiers or ones from Emulait
We recommend creating only ONE online gift registry to include all the items you wish to receive. Add our Gift Card link to be gifted any dollar amount toward the purchase of doula services and childbirth classes. How cool is that?!
You can review our listing of suggested items that may aid your postpartum recovery.
7 Key Ingredients to a Good Night’s Sleep for Your Newborn
Sleeping and getting your baby on a schedule are two of the most common subjects parents seem to have questions about. I recommend you start your baby on a predictable routine between 6 and 8 weeks of age. Additionally, here are 7 tips to helping your baby get a good night's rest.
Sleeping and getting your baby on a schedule are two of the most common subjects parents seem to have questions about. There are many scheduling options and philosophies on how to get your baby to sleep through the night. Read on to learn our tips.
I recommend you start your baby on a predictable routine between 6 and 8 weeks of age. Here are 7more tips for helping your baby get a good night's rest.
Create a daily routine. Be sure you are feeding your newborn every 2-3 hours during the day to ensure baby is getting enough calories during the day and not wanting those calories at night. Every 2-3 hours means from the start of one feeding to the start of the next. For example, if baby ate at 7am, he would need to start eating again between 9am and 10am.
Wake baby to feed during the day if it’s been longer than 3 hours since the start of the last feeding. This may be contrary to the advice you’ve heard of “never wake a sleeping baby”, but if you leave your baby to do a long stretch of sleep during the day, you will not get that long stretch to be at night.
Purchase a sound machine to keep on during naps and nighttime sleep. Conair Sound Therapy found on Amazon is an inexpensive, great sound machine that does the trick. Be sure to have it 2-3 feet from baby’s crib and turned up loud enough so you can close the nursery door and still hear it when you are standing on the outside of the door. Note: Be sure the timer button on the side is OFF.
Swaddle tightly with both arms down to baby’s sides. Swaddling turns off the “moro” (startle) reflex and flailing arms, creating a more calm and restful baby. Not sure how to swaddle? Check out our super easy swaddling technique below.
Choose a designated bedtime for baby between 7:00pm and 8:00pm. Putting baby in bed early will ensure he does not get overtired or overstimulated.
After putting your baby to bed at the designated time, treat all subsequent feedings through the night as nighttime feedings. This means the feedings should be done in as much darkness as possible with the least amount of stimulation possible. You want baby to realize nighttime is for sleeping and daytime is for interacting.
Once baby has reached its original birthweight and the doctor has said it is ok to no longer wake baby at nighttime for feedings, allow baby to wake on his own for the nighttime feedings. This will help baby establish his own body’s circadian rhythm and pattern instead of creating a habit of being woken every 3 hours throughout the night.
Bookmark this article for future reference and if you've found these tips useful, please share this post with other new parents. I hope this helps you jumpstart your way to having the happiest baby on the block and a restful night's sleep.
7 Tips to Better Organize the Nursery Now!
Simplify now to reduce clutter (and frustration) later. Colleen Downey, co-owner of Indianapolis Doulas, a full service doula agency serving families in Central Indiana, provides her tips for nursery organization.
by Colleen Downey, Birth and Postpartum Doula
If any of my friends from high school are reading this, I’m sure you’re shocked that I’m the person writing about organization. Because, like, whoa. But alas, my life has led me to this crazy place of being somewhat of an expert in birth, breastfeeding, AND organizing nurseries. So hang on, because here we go.
7 Tips to Keep Your Baby's Nursery Organized and Clean
1. Only keep items you’ll use. In my experience, you’ll need 10‐15 sleepers (maybe a few extra fleece ones for cold nights), 10 onesies, 10 pants, infinite socks (seriously, those little stinkers are always coming up missing), 5‐10 t‐shirts MAXIMUM! Donate or sell anything above and beyond.
2. Use Oxiclean. Seriously, this stuff is amazing at getting all kinds of stains out. For the really bad ones like breastmilk, formula, and blowouts be sure to soak them in the wash with oxiclean overnight and they’ll look like new!
3. Roll everything! You know how you roll your clothes when you pack a suitcase? Same thing with baby clothes. You can see all your options and you don’t have to dig to find them. Anything that is just too bulky to roll hang up in the closet.
4. Plan ahead. Use the dresser for the size your child is currently wearing and the next size up (For example, newborn and 0‐3 months). Keep them separate but easily accessible. Save yourself a headache and use the closet for clothing two sizes up from their current size (in this case, 3‐6 months and 6‐9 months).
5. Have two small laundry baskets in the closet. One for clothes that are too small and one for the clothes that are too big. No matter how carefully you organize, there are always a few stragglers. Having a place to put them helps you keep out the clutter.
6. Have a laundry basket just for your kid’s stuff and wash it separately. Not because you need special soap or anything, just so folding and putting away goes quicker. You’re a parent—you want to save time wherever you can and this is it. Ain’t nobody got time for more laundry.
7. Get a shoe box or a small basket. Use it to contain my arch nemesis—baby socks, hats, bibs, and underwear when they get older.
Simplify Now to Reduce Clutter Later
These tips totally apply to toys and whatever else you got at your baby shower, too. Trust me, your baby doesn’t need much. The sooner you simplify and get rid of unnecessary things the easier your life will be.
