Natural Newborn Care

Congratulations! Having a new baby in the house is such an exciting and wonderful blessing. But, it can also be overwhelming, especially if this is your first or if you’re trying new things with this baby. Below are some tips to help guide you through this special time.

Feeding

Breast is best for you and your baby, but it is a learning process.  Allow a few weeks for the both of you to become pros. Get help from your midwife or lactation consultant as soon as possible if you are having difficulty. Some excellent resources are pediatrician Dr. Jack Newman’s website and his international center, as well as kellymom.com. General suggestions to ease the process are:

• Nurse baby on demand or every 1-½ to 3 hours while you are awake. If the baby has a 4-6 hour stretch in the middle of the night, let baby sleep.

• If baby is too sleepy to nurse this often in the beginning, try to rouse by  unswaddling and undressing, a diaper change, a gentle back rub, or a cool washcloth on the baby’s forehead.

• Nurse one side each feeding. Start the next session on the other breast.

• Alternate feeding positions between side lying, cradle and football hold.

• Burp baby as needed if appears gassy during and after feeding.

• Do not give baby glucose water or common formula, especially while you are trying to get the breastfeeding going. Breastmilk alone, including the ‘liquid gold’ initial breast milk colostrum, is adequate nutrition and hydration for at least the first six months when all is well. The water or formula fills up their tiny stomach so they nurse less, which makes you produce less milk, and the bottle’s teat confuses them and can impair their ability to suck on your nipple. If there are issues and you do need to supplement, pumped or donor breast milk from certified mild banks is the choice method of feeding. If you must give formula, go for the organic brands that most closely resemble breast milk. Use a dropper to the side of baby’s mouth, supplemental nursing system or slow flow nipples that are more similar to the breast.

• Avoid smoking, alcohol and drugs while breastfeeding. Always consult your practitioner before taking any medications or herbal preparation.

• Limit caffeinated beverages to no more than 1-2 cups per day.

• To calm a screaming baby that is too upset to nurse, try:

  • Changing the diaper

  • Burping baby

  • Swaddling baby in a blanket

  • Giving baby a warm bath

  • Cradling or cuddling baby close to your chest

  • Rocking

  • Singing

  • Swinging

  • Talking softly to baby

  • Giving baby a gentle back massage

  • Taking baby for a walk or car ride

  • Holding baby in a position that allows application of slight pressure on his or her abdomen

  • If all else fails, give baby to your partner, take 30 minutes, and try again.

Sleeping

Babies sleep about 18 hours per day.  Place your baby on his or her back, or side to sleep, with baby’s back supported by a rolled receiving blanket.

Bowel Movements and Voiding

Babies have greenish-black, sticky stool for the first few days. This is called meconium.  Breastfed babies’ stool will then become golden-yellow, soft, and seedy-looking. Once your full milk comes in and replaces colostrum, your baby will have 1-4 stools and 6-8 wet diapers in a 24 hour period. Change the baby before each feeding to prevent diaper rash. For a reddened diaper area, use homeopathic calendula, zinc oxide or herbal diaper cream, A & D ointment,  Desitin cream plain or with zinc oxide. French green clay is excellent for diaper rashes. Use talcum free baby powder. Place baby on an absorbent pad and allow periods for baby to be diaper free, or read up on elimination communication - training baby to poop and pee on the potty! 

Cord Care

Keep the cord stump dry by folding the front of the baby’s diaper down. Squeeze a saturated cotton ball of alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to the cord stump three times per day to keep it clean. Open a capsule and apply powdered goldenseal herb or herbal combination cord powder around the base. The cord stump should fall off by itself within 8-12 days after the birth. 

General Care

Wash hands before handling the baby.

Bathe baby with mild natural soap and water, and wash the baby’s hair with a gentle tear-free natural shampoo several times per week (ideally every day – they love it).  

After the first 24 hours and the baby’s body temperature stabilizes, dress him according to the temperature as you would dress. 

Best to file than cut long nails with scissors, so baby does not scratch her/himself.   

Take the baby for a daily outing, but keep the baby away from crowds and people with contagious illnesses.  

Wear your baby. Experiment with a few baby carriers and see which one you and baby like the best.

Add to your collection The Baby Book by William and Martha Sears, as it is a wonderful “must have” comprehensive reference and guidebook to the baby’s first two years of life and virtually every aspect of care.

If you had antibiotics or baby was born by cesarean, take extra precautions to restore baby’s microbiome (healthy balance of flora).

Safety

It is State law and safe practice that babies ride in car seats every time that they travel in a vehicle. 

Always make sure that the baby is not unattended on changing tables, beds or other high places.   

If the baby sleeps in bed with you, make sure baby is in a sleeping pod or baby lounger, and that the bed has a guard rail. Do not keep pillows, stuffed animals or extra blankets in the baby’s sleeping area.

Danger Signs

Contact your pediatrician immediately if:

• The baby becomes listless, will not nurse, is inconsolable, has high pitched screaming, or behaves in an unusual way.

• The baby does not urinate within the first 24 hours, or voids less than 6 diapers per day after your milk is in.

• The baby has no bowel movement for 48 hours, or has more than 10 watery green, foul-smelling diarrhea diapers per day.

• The cord starts to smell bad or has pus oozing from it and the area around it becomes red and swollen.

• The baby’s temperature is below 97 degrees or above 99 degrees when taken under the baby’s arm.

• The whites of the babies eyes become yellow or the skin color becomes a yellow or tan tinge.

• The baby’s skin turns blue or white, especially the trunk or around the mouth.

• Projectile vomiting.

For more tips on newborn care and breastfeeding, read my Natural Birth Secrets Book 2nd edition and take my online course. Need more personal guidance? Schedule a consultation with me.  Many of the reputable brands of remedies I recommend are available in my online holistic apothecary.

For extra support in relieving common aches and pains, wear an abdominal binder. like Bellefit. They make postpartum support girdles that mamas really love. I have a holistic approach to life, including healing after pregnancy and birthing. Nothing replaces abdominal toning and exercise for restoring muscle strength and tone - which I encourage for all mamas as soon as they feel up to it postpartum. Nothing replaces touch, slow deep abdominal breathing, and a 'love your postpartum body' perspective that I promote.  But I have found many mamas simply feel comforted by this support garment, especially early postpartum and temporarily as needed....to be used without forfeiting abdominal toning and strengthening exercise, breathing well and touch. 

I have found Bellefit supportive garments to help like they use belly binding around the world such as in Indonesia. They do aid in early postpartum healing and provide support many mamas feel comforted by. I deal with human beings and the reality is many postpartum mom's struggle with body body image, feel frustrated that getting back to themselves takes longer than expected. Being into holistic health and healing includes being sensitive to real human struggles - the mind, body, heart and soul of each person and their unique situation. Having helped countless women with these issues after having a baby as a midwife, I have found many still love that binding and feel better with this support, and ability to fit into their pre-pregnancy clothes comfortably and sooner than they would if they went through a C-section or natural childbirth recovery without it - especially when they have to dress up and fit into a certain favorite outfit for a special occasion or wedding not long after having a baby.

Have a Great Postpartum Recovery (with a little help from Bellefit)!

Perineal Massage with Perimom: Reduce your Risk of Tearing

Research shows that during birth, around 9 out of 10 first-time mothers  and 7 out of 10 having subsequent births will have some form of damage to their perineum, such as tearing.

I want to talk a bit about ways we might reduce the risk of tearing during delivery.  Perineal massage has been shown in many studies to reduce the risk of spontaneous tearing in first-time mothers (especially significant tearing) during childbirth and perineal pain after labor. It can be done easily in the comfort of your own home. From 34 or 35 weeks of pregnancy, a woman or her partner can start massaging the perineum 2–3 times per week, with each session lasting for about 5 minutes.

Perineal massage can sometimes be a bit difficult to do on your own. If you are like most women, bypassing your baby bump is a huge challenge (unless you are ultra-flexible of course!)

By using the Perimom Perineal Massager shown here, you can easily reach the perineum completely on your own, to help prepare the area for childbirth in the weeks before labor.

The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggests the following:

First- and second-degree perineal tears are the most common type and are unlikely to cause long-term problems.

For third- and fourth-degree tears, there is often no clear reason why this happens, and it is not possible to predict. However, it is more likely if:

• This is your first vaginal birth

• Your baby is over 4kg (9lb)

• You have a long second stage of labour (the stage during which you push your baby out)

• Your baby’s shoulder gets stuck behind the pubic bone (shoulder dystocia)

Paying attention to the area that stretches the most during delivery allows you to focus on relaxing and learning the sensations you may encounter during childbirth. This may help you get in the zone both physically and mentally. Perimom may also help you to become comfortable with some of the sensations of muscle stretching to accommodate your baby's head, allowing you to relax and ease your baby out.  

For those of you reading this who have maybe already had your babies but are experiencing pain in the pelvic floor area, perineal massage has been shown to improve the dyspareunia caused by tenderness of the pelvic floor muscles. Doing perineal massage regularly could even aid in pain relief as soon as the 3 month postpartum mark. Study linked here.

The Perimom Perineal Massager is the only product of it's kind that has been cleared by the FDA and I have partnered with them to offer my following a limited time discount. You can click here and use code SWEETHOMEBIRTH for a discount at checkout!

Interview With a Family in My Practice on Their Podcast

“Julia and Gino were blessed to have Anne attend the birth of four of their children in the comfort of their home (they attribute Anne for saving Julia's life by detecting an ectopic pregnancy when the doctors did not!), and wanted to share with the community what an amazing midwife, mother, and entrepreneur Anne is.

In this week’s show, Anne discusses her passion for midwifery, what led her down the path of homebirth, the amazing power and joy of giving birth, and how her struggles in life led to her own transformative healing, growth, deeper joy and inner calm.

Anne draws parallels between raising a family and creating a successful in-person and online business, and how she did not set out to write two books or create online courses and coaching sessions, but a conversation with her daughter about joining Instagram changed it all. And then it grew organically.

Since that conversation, Anne has collected more than 97,000 followers on Instagram alone, and more importantly to her, has been able to serve mothers all over the world, including Australia and Europe.”

Source: Entrepreneur, Midwife, Author, and Mother, Anne Margolis with Julia and Gino Barbaro | Jake & Gino (jakeandgino.com)

Cesarean Birth and Prevention

Blog post featured image: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

--- BEGIN TRANSCRIPT Instagram.com/homesweethomebirth ---

Hi. I wanted to come on and talk about cesarean and why I'm so passionate about preventing it. 

But what I want to mention first is that the rates in this country, in the United States, are going up and our outcomes are getting worse. Okay. The national average is 30%.

That's just unacceptable.

Some hospitals around where I live, the rate is 40 to 50%. Unbelievable. Why? There are so many reasons why, but I just want to share something with you.  

My rate is 5%. My rate of cesarean birth is 5%. I'm not bragging. This has nothing really to do with me. I, 

What's different. Why is that?

Why do you think the rates in my practice are 5%, and the rates in the national average of hospitals are 30% and climbing?

The families that come to my practice don't have different bodies. The people don't have different bodies. 

You know what's different. They're getting midwifery care.

They're getting midwifery care. They are low risk and healthy. And maybe someone even labeled them as high risk, but they're not really high risk. They're just healthy. They might have an issue or two, but you know what they're doing? They're taking responsibility. That's also what they're doing.

They're preparing as I recommend them to prepare, and they're taking responsibility for the birth, they're not just saying to me, do whatever, right. 

They are taking it upon themselves. 

Why do they need to prepare? I'll tell you why they need to prepare, because I know that women's bodies know exactly how to give birth. A healthy body knows how to give birth. Right? 

Why in the West do we need to prepare? Because we're in the West. We're in the Western culture.

I feel so strongly about this because I do hospital shifts. I do hospital shifts and I love to do hospitals shifts in hospitals that serve the immigrant populations.

I love that. And I can actually do prenatal care and help a mama in labor as much as possible with my heart and with my Spanish. Now I am not fluent, okay, but I love working with this community, the immigrant population that's coming up, because I'll tell you why. Not just, I love them, but the less Westernized they are, they don't need to take childbirth classes, they just come and birth just like that. 

And you know why? Because the newer they are to this country, the less westernized they are, they came from countries where they were surrounded by people having birth. And in a community. And the women in their community, the elders, the wiser ones would talk to them about it and they would see it. 

I mean, I just spoke with a grand-momma, an abuela, who had 11 babies in her casa - back in her country. 11 babies in her Casa. That's what everybody did.

She didn't need a childbirth course. She was surrounded by everybody doing that. So, she got that education, and she got that by osmosis, that “We know how to do this. This is what we know how to do". And you know what, it's hard, but we can do hard things. Like we don't need to numb ourselves from pain. They deal with pain. They just deal with it. The more westernized they are, the more we are in our brains, the more we are in fear. Not “we”. No, because I've healed myself, I've tried to de-Westernize myself when it comes to helping moms give birth.

And I feel strongly about this, because, we can't help the way of our culture. Okay. We get fear messages. Oh my gosh we get fear messages all over the media. You know, someone sees you're pregnant they're going to tell you a story. And we are addicted to Googling everything. We're just too much in our brains. It's just, it's just the way it is. We have to research this, we have to research that, and we have to numb. We're not comfortable with discomfort.

And that's why I love my yoga training. That taught me, that deep in yoga, to combine that with being a midwife is just an amazing combination. Yoga doesn't come from the West. It comes from the East. To be comfortable with uncomfortable. To be comfortable with discomfort. To be comfortable and relax into intensity. 

And I needed that to help me understand and how to help other people do that. But there are cultures around the world, here are countries around the world that never did any yoga. They just live in a community, and are surrounded by the elders and other women in the community. They just do it. You know, we do hard things. And we just give birth.

So, that’s why I think a huge part of the success of a lot in my practice, and a lot of my colleagues, is that we're really are, to the families that have a baby in the home, in our practice are Westernized. They might want to have a home birth, but it's their first time, they know nothing about birth. They haven't been around it. 

They tell me they don't know anybody that's had a home birth that I can connect them with. Well, I know tons of people that have had a home birth.

So, that's why I love connecting moms and their partners, so that they don't feel so isolated. But a lot of times the families that come to me, their parents gave birth in hospitals with all kinds of interventions and they just, they feel very isolated and unprepared. And, and just looking at videos and pictures, scrolling down, on Instagram is not the way to prepare. I'm sorry. It's not. And that's why I really think a lot of the success comes from myself and my colleagues really being insistent that the family who comes in to have a home birth is going to prepare like a boss, right? 

Get de-Westernized, get primal and get sensual, and learn how to relax into intensity and learn about birth because no one ever taught you. Right. And learn the techniques that you need to do to master your calm. And, and to just let your body do it. And, and I think that's a huge part of our success. 

I track my stats, and unfortunately the 7% of times that I have to go into the hospital, it's not because of an emergency. Emergencies are rare. We deal with them, or I can count them on my hand.

I'm the EMT. The midwife is the EMT at the birth. We prevent and we deal with any problems that come up. And if we need to go to the hospital, we need to go to the hospital.

But that's 7% of the time. That means 93% are having births at home.

But who is my 7% that needs to go to the hospital?
It tends to be, and I track my statistics. I've been tracking them for years. It's people with long, stuck labors, first time birthers, first time vaginal birthers, who did not prepare.

They just didn't want to take a course, they were preparing on Instagram or they, or they just weren't preparing at all before Instagram.

You can't prepare on Instagram. You have to take a class today. Yes. In the West. You have to take a class, unless your mom and your grandparents have given birth at home, and you're surrounded by, natural birth. Because natural birth in the West is very different. It's a very different experience if you've never done it before and you can't prepare on social media. Okay? 

Then, you have to think about who are you going to, who are you going to - let's say you want a natural birth. Well, if the hospital or the provider that you're going to is, let's say you're healthy and you want a natural birth, if the hospital and the provider that you're going to doesn't do natural birth. They're not into it. They weren't trained in it. They're into interventive birth, it's going to be very hard for you to have a natural birth, right? And one intervention leads to another intervention, leads to the other intervention, and unfortunately ends up in too much intervention and complications and cesarean births. 

I am so grateful for cesarean births for when it's necessary and that's why I post on it. And yes, we could have gentle cesareans for those mamas. Five percent - they're still human beings, and that's still a birth, and those mamas are rockstars because they need to have a compassionate, human, respectful family centered, gentle cesarean, and we can have as much as possible that home-sweet-home birth in the hospital or in the operating room, but we still have to prevent. 

So, you have to think about – even if you want a vaginal birth - let's say you want an epidural - if you want a vaginal birth, you have to know. Ask “What's the rate of cesareans in your hospital?”. Is it 30%? Is it 40%? Is it 50%? Then it's very unlikely - unless you prepare. Then have to prepare even more, right, to fight that system. Because, I don’t know, I talk about this all the time and I'm so passionate about it because I think that's how we make the change. 

How we be the change, how we make the change, is for you all to prepare yourselves and take back your birth and know what setting and what provider you're going to. 

And if you are blessed, if you're healthy, or you have a little issue or two, that doesn't risk you out of midwifery care. Find a midwife. 

That's the model of care in a lot of countries where the midwives who are trained. You know, I have seven years of training, it's not just a weekend course. I had to get my bachelor's, and I got my master's, and where I live, I need a master's degree. I have seven years of training and education, and it's specifically focused on supporting the low risk healthy.

Yes, we screen, we prevent, and we look. That's what prenatal care is all about, that relationship, and making sure that it is still safe and appropriate for that mama to have a home birth, or a birth with a midwife in the hospital. 

But midwifery, our specialty, is supporting normal. Keeping it normal. Lay low on intervention. No intervention. No interventions necessary when it's working well. 

What's an obstetrician? What's an OB/GYN. Do you know the difference? There’s a huge difference, and we need them, thank god, but an obstetrician and a gynecologist, OB/GYN, goes to medical school and does residency and extra training for high-risk pregnancies and surgery, to use very highly sophisticated technology to diagnose and treat high-risk situations, medically or surgically. But that kind of provider, I have doctors, I love the obstetricians that I work, but they always tell me they know nothing about natural birth. They're bored of it. They don't know what to do. They love the midwives. If someone's healthy, they say “you're going to get better care with a midwife”. 

So, it's very important for you to know the difference between a midwife and an obstetrician, their training and their background, because if you want a surgical birth, then no, you don't go to a midwife – go to a surgeon.

And that's what an obstetrician and gynecologist, OB/GYN is. And we need them. 

And that's why there are certain countries, that's why the United States ranks the lowest among all developed countries in the world, in terms of maternal and newborn outcomes. We're losing more babies and mamas, or having more serious complications with mamas and babies, than all the other developed countries in the world.

The countries that have the best outcomes are countries where, like Sweden, there's a lot of countries where everybody sees a midwife, if they're healthy. The doctor (obstetrician) is there for the high risk. High-risk and when surgery is needed. When medicine and surgery is needed. 

And that's how we serve the whole population of people having babies, and that's how we get excellent outcomes - live, happy, healthy mamas and babies. 

So last week I talked about a bleeding in pregnancy - this week I thought I'd talk about this.

If you found that helpful, comment, share. I'd love to hear what you have to say, but that's all for now. 

Have a wonderful weekend. Bye.

--- END TRANSCRIPT ---

Plan like a Boss! Create your ideal birth plan and take back your birth!

Feel empowered and prepared for your childbirth experience and all the possible interventions you need to make decisions about - whether you are planning to birth in the hospital, birthing center or home setting! :)

Creating your ideal birth plan with this FREE video and ebook guide will not only help you prepare in advance, it will:

• help you speak up for what you want and what you do not want

• provide the keys to prevent high rates of unnecessary, risky medical and surgical interventions and birth trauma, and

• coach you about the hows and whys, and some great recommendations for helping you design the birth of your dreams!

This is the special guide that I give to each family in my practice, that has been refined and refined over the many years of practice, brought to life in an updatable, printable and shareable guide.

Then use these different but crucial resources to prepare like a boss! Prevent that first cesarean or plan your VBAC! It takes work and is worth every penny, but this is your and your baby’s health and life we are protecting.

Love Your Birth Course

$397.00

Add to Cart

A Walk With Anne - Tips & Insights on Holistic Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond Online Course

$77.00

Add To Cart

Get a comprehensive holistic reference guide to the journey of getting pregnant, being pregnant, birth, breastfeeding, postpartum and beyond. Check out the second edition of my international and national best selling book Natural Birth Secrets.

Getting Real With A Mama in My Practice Who Rocked Her VBAC

Part one and two of a an awesome video I was invited to do with Joni, a mama in my practice who had a homebirth birth after cesarean, that really brings together many things pregnancy, birth, and breathwork, holistic health and healing.

Learn how to rock your VBAC and have the birth of your dreams with these three different but crucial resources - so you can prepare like a boss!

Love Your Birth Course

$397.00

Add to Cart

A Walk With Anne - Tips & Insights on Holistic Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond Online Course

$77.00

Add To Cart

Get deep in this childbearing bible, a reference guide for the whole journey from planning a pregnancy, expecting, birth, postpartum and newborn care, with effective holistic modalities for common discomforts and issues along the way.