Hello hello! It’s been a crazy month around this house! We swung round the New Year, got smacked in the face with a GI bug, and I went to single parent-ops for a few weeks. Behind the scenes, I was also working on resubmitting a publication for Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. The last one took all my extra brain bytes!
I wanted to share a couple of tips today that I didn’t learn in school and can’t take credit for – but I recommend them regularly in practice. See what you think and let me know if you use them in your own practice!
Tip #1: Use a large towel to catch babes in a hammock when a mama births in a standing position!
I came across this tip when I was in Alaska. We had a lot of births out of the bed. It was great. But I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor under a mama, watching the baby crown, and thinking, there’s probably a better way to catch these babies.
Enter the large towel! Size wise, think of the towels that are a little smaller than the baby blankets in the hospital (not a wash cloth, but not a shower towel…). Typically when the head is crowning, I offer perineal support if needed, but as the head extends, I’ll move the towel under the baby and catch the baby into my towel like a little hammock!
I also love the tip because it’s easy to hold the babies after they are born and hand them to the mamas (they can be really slippery when they’re born!).
Has anyone tried this? If not, think about it for your next birth and let me know what you think!
Tip #2: Tried everything to flip a breech baby? Try a frozen Coke can.
This is one that I can’t take credit for but I’ve had it work for a few mamas that have had breech babies that did not flip spontaneously despite mamas trying everything on spinning babies or even with a version!
It’s not evidence based but has no harm associated expect a little bit of coldness on the mama’s skin.
First step, have the mama put a soda can in the freezer and wait until it’s almost frozen solid. You want the can as cold as possible, but don’t explode the can in the freezer. Second step, draw a bath. Third step, while in the bath, place the frozen soda can near the baby’s head for a minute or as long as tolerated by the mama.
The idea is that baby’s don’t like the cold and they’ll move away from the cold area. Maybe even out of their breech position!
Has anyone tried this as well? I’ve heard of women doing headstands in pools, inversions on their couch….there are lots of interventions recommended to try to flip a breech babe!
Hope these tips help! Share yours as well!
It should be less quiet around the blog since I resubmitted my manuscript for publication. Fingers crossed it’s accepted!
Hugs,
Jamie
1 year ago on the blog…Midwife Monday: How to Prevent Burnout or a Mid-“wife” Crisis in Your Career
2 years ago on the blog…The State of Midwifery (Part 1)
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