AmeriCorps doula job posting

As I noted in my post on AmeriCorps doula opportunities, I don't generally have any info about what's currently out there. AmeriCorps programs and positions are constantly changing and I don't even know what's happening with my old program, much less anyone else's! But I have a friend looking for AmeriCorps positions in Seattle right now and she sent me this posting:

Member Duties : Two positions are offered for members who will train as a Birthing Doula with Seattle Midwifery School. Members will then serve as part of Seattle's MSS Department providing pre and post labor education as well as labor support to clients who lack a support system. This position requires independence, sensitivity, a willingness to work independently, and the ability to handle a demanding on-call schedule as well as bilingualism in Spanish and English. To learn more about the role of a Doula visit www.dona.org. IN ORDER TO COMPLETE YOUR AMERICORPS APPLICATION, PLEASE COMPLETE AND SUBMIT THE SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS LOCATED ON THE SEA MAR WEBSITE. These questions can be found by clicking to www.seamar.org, then pulling down the menu "Jobs", clicking on "AmeriCorps" and clicking to "How To Apply".

Program Benefits :
Childcare assistance if eligible , Education award upon successful completion of service , Health Coverage , Living Allowance , Training .

Terms :
Permits attendance at school during off hours , Permits working at another job during off hours .

Service Areas :
Community Outreach , Education , Health

Just reading the job description brought back such wonderful memories of my work as an AmeriCorps doula! I still describe that job as, hands down, the best job I ever had. If you're interested, go for it! (I promise my friend won't be competing with you... she's more interested in estuarine ecology.)

Reply turned post: Bottle feeding, breastfeeding, and the NICU

I vent a lot (maybe too much... trying to stay open to positive possibilities for education and cooperation) about the NICU & breastfeeding.

Because of those challenges, this post on My OB Said What caught my eye today: "You’ll get him home sooner if you just bottle feed," – NICU nurse to breastfeeding mother of a NICU baby. Many commenters chimed in to rightfully assert that the mother's breastmilk is much better than a bottle of formula, especially for a NICU baby, but I think this is not quite what the nurse meant. This was my comment:

"This is sad but true... the requirements for the NICU babies to go home is to take all feeds PO (by mouth), maintain their oxygen sats on room air, and maintain their temp. The PO feeding requirement leads to a lot of bottles because they are the easiest and fastest way to declare the baby capable of all-PO feeding. I have met very few moms able to avoid any bottles in the NICU. It basically means insisting on gavage feeding for every feed at which the mother is not present, and it is hard for the mother to be present 24/7 because the NICU is not set up for that. So it absolutely can mean that the baby stays longer. It is very frustrating because direct breastfeeding is best and least taxing for these babies."

It's a real catch-22. The way to prove the baby can do OK on all PO feeds is for the mother to breastfeed him/her around the clock. But there is often nowhere for the mother to sleep after she's discharged from the hospital herself. So to be with her baby 24 hours a day to breastfeed, she has to agree to bottle feeds to "prove" her baby can effectively take all feeds by mouth. The bottle feeds can and do cause issues with breastfeeding, but even for the most motivated mom, it can be a very difficult choice between agreeing to many bottles, and waiting extra days to take her baby home.

Recently, I saw a baby born at 32 weeks go to the NICU, have nothing but breastmilk and never have a single bottle touch her lips, and eventually go home feeding exclusively at the breast. Her mother was highly educated and motivated, had excellent family and community support, and really advocated for herself and her baby. As LCs, we were all so amazed and impressed by what they did. It was truly an accomplishment in a NICU environment... and it took bucketloads of privilege. Very few people are able to accomplish that without support from the staff, which the nurse quoted above was definitely not providing. Staff support is a huge issue. I have even heard a NICU nurse say "If they don't want to bottle feed, I just tell them 'We can put a tube down your baby's nose instead' [referring to gavage/NG tube feeding] - that changes their mind!'" A really inappropriate thing to say just to scare parents, given that this way of feeding may be necessary for certain babies who aren't able to safely do PO feeds.

In my perfect fantasy world, NICU babies who are ready to do PO feeds are moved to private or semi-private rooms that have a space for mom to sleep, so she can be with the baby 24/7 and breastfeed easily. She can stay there until the baby is ready to go home. Bottles are only given with explanation and consent, used appropriately, and stopped quickly if they begin to cause breastfeeding issues. Is this really such a crazy fantasy?

Short but sweet on why dads/partners should love doulas

Trying to convince a reluctant family member of your need to have a doula? Try this quote on them, from an OB-GYN I know who had a doula at her first birth: "I can't say if having a doula shortened my labor, but it definitely lengthened my marriage!"

How people find my blog

I was looking through my stats tonight and thought I'd do a runthrough (as I've seen and enjoyed other bloggers do) of some interesting search keywords/phrases that lead people to my blog. Some of them are pretty interesting, some just...puzzling.

"doula newspaper"
This made me think of how fun an all-doula newspaper would be, imagining breaking headlines like "Hospital X gets telemetry monitors!" and an advice column with questions like "My friends are tired of me talking about birth all the time, but I just want to educate them! Who is right?"

"was getting an MPH a mistake"
It is for some people, but I'm afraid Google's not going to help with the answer for you personally.

"should I get an MPH"
You should probably talk to the above person first!

"counting from 1 to 10 while pushing"
Don't.

"public health insomnia"
Pretty sure that's what I have when I lie awake at night constructing new prenatal education programs in my head.

"is breastmilk best for babies with downs syndrome"
YES! (As breastmilk is best for ALL babies, save a rare few with unusual metabolic disorders.)

"Why do nurses supplement formula to breastfeeding infants"
Pick any combination of the following: ignorance, misguided good intentions, hospital policy, habit, maternal request, laziness, active dislike of breastfeeding.

"doula unqualified neonatal nurses"
Act as a doula to unqualified neonatal nurses? Should unqualified neonatal nurses be doulas? This is one of the puzzlers.

It's Good Friday (just barely) which means 2 more days till I'm back reading blogs! I will confess I broke it just a teeny bit today to check up on Gina's labor/birth at The Feminist Breeder. Very happy for her and so interesting to see the liveblog as it unfolded! Go check it out.

Mollie's birth story

My lovely friend Mollie just had her baby last week and I am so happy for her! She just posted her birth story on her blog. Before she had it written, she e-mailed me a teaser:

Chris is dozing in the room, I'm in the hall with the Doula, midwife had gone to lie down. We walk down the length of the hall, back to the other end, about half way back and then...
Chris tells it as "I was about to doze off, and then I hear her yelling, 'I can't do it, I can't do it, I'm pushing, make it stop, something came out!'"

Doesn't that make you want to read the whole thing? (Plus you get to see photos of that cute little baby.)

Stay tuned for a guest post by Mollie on how she went about choosing her care providers and place of birth, laying the foundation for a positive (and exciting - in the good way) birth experience!

Michael Latham, breastfeeding advocate

From the NY Times:

Michael C. Latham, an expert on international nutrition and tropical health who waged a long campaign against the use of infant formula and for the practice of breastfeeding in developing countries, died on April 1 in Boston. He was 82 and lived in Newfield, N.Y.

The cause was pneumonia, his son Mark said.

Dr. Latham, who directed the Program in International Nutrition at Cornell University for 25 years, first encountered the problems of nutrition in the developing world while practicing medicine as a young doctor for the British colonial service in Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

After the country had gained its independence, he stayed on and was appointed the director of the nutrition unit of the public health ministry. He became alarmed at efforts by Western companies to expand their marketing of infant formula to underdeveloped countries, where high birth rates promised a growing consumer base, and he became one of the first and most forceful public health scientists to sound a warning.

In many poor countries, he pointed out, mothers mixed powdered baby formula with contaminated water, leading to diarrheal diseases. To make the formula last longer, they often used too little of the powder, depriving their babies of vital nutrients.

Bottle feeding was “incredibly difficult and extremely bad,” Dr. Latham wrote in a 1976 report with Ted Greiner, but “the media onslaught is terrific, the messages are powerful and the profits are high.”

“High also is the resultant human suffering,” they wrote.

Dr. Latham’s cause, taken up by several health groups, led the World Health Organization in 1981 to develop a set of guidelines, the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, which was intended to govern the behavior of private companies. He was a prominent figure in the boycott of Nestlé, a leading manufacturer of infant formula, which agreed in 1984 to abide by the marketing code.

Read the rest here.

Link time! Research & investigation style

In the news and/or my e-mail inbox:

* A new book "Sanctioning Pregnancy: A Psychological Perspective on the Paradoxes and Culture of Research" by Harriet Gross and Helen Pattinson. From their description: "Sanctioning Pregnancy offers a unique critique of sociocultural constructions of pregnancy and the ways in which it is represented in contemporary culture, and examines the common myths which exist about diet, exercise and work in pregnancy, alongside notions of risk and media portrayals of pregnant women." Google Books preview here.

* The FDA will be investigating nutritional claims by infant formula manufacturers.

* When do breastfed babies need extra iron?

* The Full Spectrum Doula Network (FSDN) has several members conducting research who are looking for participants - from the FDSN newsletter:

* FSDN member Ryan Pryor is conducting a study and oral history project of queer and gender non-conforming birth workers (link here)
* FSDN member Laurel Ripple Carpenter is conducting interviews of full spectrum and radical doulas for an ethnographic study at Burlington College and Mesa State College (link here)
* FSDN member Monica Brasile is conducting an online survey of doulas for her PhD research in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. She's especially interested in representing the voices of radical and full spectrum doulas. (link here)
* Erica Varlese is conducting interviews of doulas who offer pro-bono or volunteer services or who work specifically with marginalized groups of women. (link here)

I did an interview with Laurel and it was a great experience (and I'm really looking forward to reading her final product). If you're a doula who falls into one of these categories, please consider helping out!