Hypnobirthing

Ok, so with Eli's birth in mind I was quite scared at the idea of giving birth again from the moment I discovered I was pregnant. I was slowly coming around to the idea and realisation that what happened was so rare and bizarre that it would not happen again and chances are I'd have a great birth this time when I was introduced to the book Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method by Marie Mongan.

I must admit that it sounded a bit out there for me. I had all the standard prejudices around hypnosis but was open to reading the book. The book is fantastic. Great history around birthing particularly Grantly Dick-Read's work in the 1800's. He came up with the Fear-Tension-Pain Theory. The theory explains that when someone is fearful it creates tension in their body due the flight/fight response and tension leads to pain. In the context of birth any tension centers around the uterus as a birthing woman is fearful of the pain, experience or idea of having a new baby. Tension in the uterus means that blood to the area is restricted and the baby is pushing against hard muscles causing pain and obviously a Failure To Progress, which funnily enough has the same acronym as Fear Tension Pain (FTP). Obstetricians who have performed cesarians on women who have Failed to Progress have found the muscles of the uterus to be white. So the main objectives of hypnobirthing are relaxation, visualisation, imagery, affirmations to create a calm, gentle, even painless birthing for you and your baby.

Anyway there is more to it than that and I strongly recommend a read of the Hypnobirthing book. So now I was really interested in the philosophy and skills that hypnobirthing had to offer. The woman who recommended the book to me had recently arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand with her family and is a Hypnobirthing instructor. She wanted to run a course for couples she had met. Unfortunately (fortunately for us) we ended up being the only couple interested and I was already in the second half of my pregnancy. So our instructor was happy to run it just for us. There were pro's and con's to that, but ultimately it was a fantastic course. As well as the skills of relaxation, visualisation, imagery and a really positive view of natural birth we also had the opportunity (created for us by our instructor) to process Eli's birth and have time together with this new baby pre-birth. It was a great opportunity for my partner to understand what I was trying to achieve and ways that he could support the process and be involved in the birth of his child. The fact that the course is run for couples is a great thing.

I would recommend a hypnobirthing course to anyone. Great to get it right the first time and if the first time wasn't ideal it's great for setting you up to have a more ideal birth the second time. As part of the course we watched 'Birth as we know it,' a fantastic DVD created by a Russian midwife. Also highly recommended.

I really hope that the hypnobirthing instructor here in Dunedin continues to offer courses to couples and that midwives around the world start to adopt the philosophy and skills of this wonderful technique.

Look forward to writing a post on my birth experience to come and how hypnobirthing helped me.

Eli's birth story 3 years on!

I've never written Eli's birth story as it's been hard to deal with. I'll try to keep it short!

Eli was in a good position for his birth. My waters broke at about 10am and I went into labour at 8pm that night and he was born about 2am. Labour progressed smoothly and reasonably easily. I was at home, the pool was full and warm and I utilised it in the later stages of my labour. Eli's heart rate was good. I opted to let the midwife use the Doppler so I didn't have to get out of the pool. When I shared the feeling of an urge to push I was encouraged to feel for the babies head. I was fully dilated and it was obvious that I had experienced transition. When I felt for Eli's head I described it as soft and squishy. The midwife was a bit puzzled by this and assumed that his waters hadn't broken completely. I followed the next urge to push and Eli's umbilical cord prolapsed (a loop fell out of me).

For those who don't know, this is a major emergency. As Eli was attempted to birth he was cutting off his own oxygen by compressing his cord. My husband was the only person to ask a question about this rare ( between 0.14% and 0.62%) event in our antenatal classes! In class we were told head down, bum up, keep the cord safe and moist etc and get to the hospital. Well that just wasn't going to happen. I was fully dilated, ready to birth and needed to get Eli out fast! My husband called an ambulance without a prompt. We all knew this was serious. My midwife looked at me and said 'We need to get this baby out now'. I said 'Ok, I'm pushing.' I pushed regardless of contractions, as hard as I could. Our backup midwife arrived, thinking she was coming to a swift moving, easy birth. My yells were the first indication to her as she got out of her car that things may have changed. She helped me out of the pool as our LMC (Lead Maternity Carer) had decided that an episiotomy would help get my baby out as fast as possible. At one stage I was told to have a rest and refused. As our LMC got the anesthetic ready I yelled 'Just cut me'. So she did and it hurt, but I wasn't going to risk taking any more time!

Eli was born in 12 minutes from the moment his cord prolapsed. He was blue and limp and not breathing very well. But he was breathing! He was alive. Many babies don't survive a prolapsed cord. His heart never stopped, though it got as low as 6o beats per minute (I think?). To sum up, the ambulance arrived, we went to the hospital, nasal oxygen helped Eli instantaneously and he had a few hours in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit NICU (at 8.3lbs he was by far the biggest healthiest baby there!). I was stitched up, while my husband stayed with Eli. We were convinced to give him antibiotics 'in case' of infection, grrrr! I wasn't allowed to feed him for 10 hours while his breathing was monitored. He was on a glucose drip. We were allowed home after one night in hospital.

Eli is a happy, healthy, clever almost 3 year old so we were very lucky. On visiting Eli in NICU and learning of his birth a consultant doctor at the hospital said of the birth, something along the lines of 'It was a strange happening within a rare event'. It was reassuring to know that. I had done everything I knew (and I'd read a lot!) to have a healthy, safe pregnancy and birth and I felt pretty disappointed at what happened. Put in perspective I had a live and healthy baby!!!!

Well this post started off as a post on Hypnobirthing as now 33 weeks pregnant with our second child my husband and I have just finished a hypnobirthing course. The greatest benefit of the course was the opportunity to finish processing Eli's birth and go into this one without fear.

We are having this baby at home, in the pool and it's all going to be great! We have the same midwives and I know this one will happen the way I envision it.

Now that this story is told I'll post about Hypnobirthing! :)

Protecting your child from injury or being overprotective?

It has been a horrendously long time since I last posted on my blog. Always lots to write about, not always the time to write it!
So here we go. My son has be proving himself quite the daredevil lately. Mostly on his bike - I will add a clip of a rather good downhill, with a good crash at the end, when I get to the computer this clip is on! And here it is...



Just yesterday day we had our first tree climbing experience. Well Eli has been climbing trees with his Dad a couple of times a week during their lunch break together while I finish work. So it was really just my first experience tree climbing with Eli. Not that I climbed the tree. I was invited to join him, but at 25 weeks pregnant I decided I'd stay on the ground. Not as climbing fit as I was when pregnant with Eli, teaching multipitch traditional rock climbing at 25 weeks pregnant!

Anyway, I milled around on the ground, trying to be in good 'spotting' positions in case of a fall without looking like I was trying to protect him. I trust his ability to know what he can and can't do. He does push the limits as is good for everyone and yes one day this might have a significant consequence. I believe the consequence is worth it for developing a confidence, skillful person who is aware of his body and what it is capable of.

At quite a young age he climbed to the top of our gate, resting his knees on the top cross bar. The kids up the road who he was trying to watch (most probably join them) came running down yelling that Eli was on the gate. My husband wandered out the sliding door to find him precariously perched. He wandered back inside to get the camera, saying 'You should see this.' As he was out taking photo's and this movie. Myself and a friend who was visiting came outside. As much as we tried to be nonchalant about what we saw, Eli released where he'd put himself, panicked and tumbled over the gate landing flat on his back on the grass. A bit winded and in a bit of shock there were lots of tears, but nothing more. I breathed a sign of relief that he'd gone forward and not backwards onto the concrete!


So, should we have plucked him off as soon as we saw him? Should we have supported him down? Or was what we did ok? The kids walked off in a bit of bewilderment as the realised that we didn't share the panic and fear that they did. Maybe we should have?

Needless to say, since then he has been most careful about what he climbs up! For a while he freaked out when he'd climbed something and wanted down. We continued to refuse to help though we did offer advice and sometimes a spot as he found his way down.

I feel confident and happy in the way we have dealt with Eli's 'sticky situations'. My feelings come from a number of philosophies. Jean Leidloff's, Continuum Concept talks about trusting kids innate ability to keep themselves safe. Also their ability to cope with a bit of pain and suffering and the knowledge that they can come to their parents/caregivers for comfort if they need it. Most of all my belief in Experiential Learning as one of the most powerful types of education. Eli learnt after falling over the fence that there are consequences to climbing past your ability and he hasn't done it since. He pushes the limits and is well aware that there maybe a consequence to doing so. We could not have taught him that more powerfully than through the experiences he's had. Yes, we teach him the danger of the road. Explaining why there was a squashed, dead bird on the road one day was helpful for that lesson! We supervise him when he's using a knife etc, but we don't 'protect' him from these dangers!

There is a risk in everything. To not expose your child to a physical risk is to expose them to the risk of being fearful, scared to put themselves out there and not learn their limits. A bit of physical risk is worth it in my opinion.

Anyway, enough babble from me. Love to hear your thoughts! Anna :)

Submission to the Tertiary Education Strategy

Submission to the Tertiary Education Strategy

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Tertiary Education Strategy. This is a fantastic opportunity for New Zealand to deliver on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

Following are our comments in relation to the goals of the UN Decade.

Key points on the Vision

1.2

We need our current and future workforce to act sustainably. Therefore they need the skills to do this. e.g. 'raise the skills and knowledge of the current and future workforce to meet labour demand, economic, societal and environmental needs.' The Tertiary Education sector must be directed to provide the learning to think and act for a sustainable future.

It is great to see a mention of sustainability in the vision. It is important that this is worded to show the interconnectedness of our economic, social and environmental systems. "...respond to the interconnected needs of our economic, social and environmental systems."

Sustainability research is interdisciplinary research. The Performance-Based Research Fund with it's discipline based panel structure must be reviewed so as to provide for essential interdisciplinary research such as sustainability.


2.1 Priorities

It must be a priority to develop people who have the ability to take a systems thinking approach to all that they do and understand the interconnectedness of our socio-economic systems. Students and our future workforce must understand that we live in a closed system with finite resources and we must therefore operate in a way that our species will be sustained by these resources for many generations to come. It must also be a priority to develop people who can consider others on a world wide scale. It must also be a priority to develop people who can participant and act in the democratic process in the New Zealand system and many other systems globally.

To sum this up it must be a priority for the government to see tertiary education providers develop people who can think and act for a sustainable future.

2.2 How priorities will be achieved

This priority can be achieved by encouraging/expecting providers to integrate teaching and learning for a sustainable future by providing: learning in systems, critical and creative thinking; an understanding of the interconnectedness of our living systems; understanding of ethics across time and space; the motivation and ability to act for a sustainable future.

2.2.2

It is great to see that 'encourage collaboration and shared resources' as part of improving sector performance. Through Open Educational Resource we can expand this further to contribute to the provision of education world wide, enhancing New Zealand's reputation for high quality education. The use of quality Open Educational Resource (OER) will encourage those who have the ability to pay for facilitated and/or face to face education in New Zealand and to be acknowledged through certification for what they have achieved to do so. As well as providing education for those who do not have the same privilege and enhance international links.

3.1 Expectations of Providers

The government must expect tertiary education providers to educate for sustainability. We can no longer afford to ignore the interconnectedness of our living systems. Tomorrows leaders must be able to move our country forward with a systems thinking, collaborative, action approach to addressing the decline of the health and abundance of the natural resources in which we rely.

All tertiary education providers must provide education for sustainability for all their students. All education must have real world application and our future 'real world' must be a sustainable one.

3.3 Monitoring

The government must not only monitor the 'contribution that tertiary education makes to New Zealand's economy and society,' but must monitor the contribution that tertiary education makes to New Zealand's integrated economic, society and environment systems.

Recommendations:

1. Add the integration of Education for Sustainability as an expectation of tertiary education providers.

2. The ability to act for a sustainable future must be an explicit core capability, such as numeracy and literacy. Eco-literacy is an essential skill for all for New Zealand's future.

3. Interdisciplinary study and research must be supported in order to gain strong, worthwhile sustainability research.

Aspects of living sustainably:

The good old days

Home cooked meals (from scratch) almost every night.

Growing a lot of the households food in the back yard.

Walking or biking to school or work every day, rain or shine.

Putting more clothes on when it's cold.

Showering once a day or less!

Home baked goodies in the cardboard.

One car families.

Three or four changes of clothes, not a walk in wardrobe full.

Taking the bus was fun.

Everything that could be re-used was.

Take away coffees etc, didn't really exist – we all just sat down for one.

We didn't need a clothes drier, microwave, 2 or more TV's, 2 or more computers, 2 or more stereos, a slow cooker, an electric can opener, heated towel rails etc, etc.

How can we still live comfortably, yet decrease of impact on the environment?

I had a discussion with my husband as we were driving to work/pre-school with our 2 year old last week. Before we had our son we had a car each, vans infact – both with beds in them – the single, vagrants dream. We now have one old stationwagon and it's great. My husband commented that we do fine with only one car. In fact he couldn't imagine having another car that he drove to work and left there all day. What a cost and what a waste he said, though reminding me that he didn't used to think like that – my influence. Because he's so used to taking the bus and occassionally riding his bike he just doesn't see it as an inconvience or hard work.

This is what has happened. As people have increasingly been able to afford ever cheaper appliances and cars and marketing has done a fantastic job at telling us we can't live without these things we have come to believe that this is true.

My husbands experience in getting to and from work has become habit and therefore easy. We do have the benefit of being close to a bus route both at home and at work. So all we need to do is change the way we do things and stick them out until they become habit and easy!

Watching Dunedin go through the transition to using cloth bags in the supermarket is an interesting one. I made this transition 4 or so years ago and constantly forgot to put my empty bags back in the car, then forgot to take them into the supermarket and so on. It was frustrating, but after a few months perserverance it became habit and easy. I'm watching frustrated people work at remembering the change of routine now.

We are by no means perfect when it comes to living sustainability. Few people are, but we do a reasonable amount and are very conscious of the decisions we make and how they impact all. We don't own a clothes drier and never have, yet we have a two year old. We raised him 'nappy free' from 6 weeks old, but that's another story. He still has wet pants and dirty clothes and of course my husband and I need to do washing too. Dunedin is by far the sunniest of cities, yet we manage to get most of our washing dry on the line even through most of winter. When we can't we use my husbands designed ceiling clothes rack that sits against the roof near the fire or clothes racks and if something we want to wear is wet, well tough we have to find something else!

We have a eco wood burning fire that has a wet-back attached and we can cook (use a frying pan even) on the top of it. Our power bills in the winter can be as low as $55 and we rarely go over $100 any time of the year. I have applied the fake double glazing to our windows at $25/room and we now have no condensation on our bedroom window sills in the morning. We had to replace our cracked sliding door so we topped up the insurance pay out to get a double-glazed one and most recently we have taken up the Government insulation grant. Unfortunately we can't get under our floor but we able to get two layers of wool (our choice for environmental reasons at a bit more expense) in our ceiling. I'm happy to reveil that we only had to pay $650 of the $1600 it cost as we have community services cards that gave us 60% off with the governments subsiby.

We are not a wealthy family. We earn enough to live comfortably and we only have holidays because we careful about what we spend our money on. Sensible insulation and heating and only 1 car saves us heaps!!!!

I'm an experiential gardener and would hate to have to fully feed my family on what I grow – we'd be hungry!!! But it definitely compliments the huge amount that we spend on food. We eat a lot of organic food, cook meals from scratch as much as possible and buy in bulk avoiding heaps of packaging, though this is defintely what fills our rubbish bin over 3 weeks. Yes, weeks to fill one 65L rubbish bag in a 3 person household. Not bad, but it could be better. I simply refuse in most cases to buy something that can't be re-used as infinitely as possible or recycled or both.

It's not hard or expensive to do little things that will make a huge difference to the quality of our environment. I don't need a heated towel rail, don't even have a heater in our bathroom – it encourages a quick dry and change into warm clothes. I don't need a walk in wardrobe. My op-shop buys see me through and I don't feel bad about passing them on to buy more from the op-shop when I need a change.

As I said, I'm by no means perfect when it comes to living sustainably. The reason I wanted to share some of these things with you is to show you that it's not hard to do, it's cheaper, which means you have more money for things like holidays – or you can simply do less work! Give it a go. Take one thing that you know that has a huge impact on the environment and change it. Stick with it for a few months (convince some others -family or friends/flatmates) to join you and pretty quickly you'll find that it's habit – good habit!! Thanks. Anna :)

Wearing your baby

My introduction to baby wearing was in my early 20's when I meet a friend of a friend in a market. She was wearing her baby wrapped up in a sling. I could just glimpse his head tucked against her chest. I loved what I saw, it looked so right to me. Although I was far from needing to know all about it I wanted to know how she had tied him so snugly to her. Not long after this meeting the first of my friends had a baby. As a gift I made her one of the slings I had seen that day in the market. It became my standard gift as more of my friends had children. It wasn't until 8 or so years later when I was to have my child that I learnt the reasons why you wear your baby.

The Continuum Concept written by Jean Liedloff talks about our innate expectations at birth formed over a long evolutionary process of thousands of years. One of those innate expectations is close and constant contact with our primary caregiver initially, then any family members or friends from birth to crawling. This stage has been aptly named 'The In-Arms Phase' which happens from birth to 6-8months.

It has only been in the last 100 or so years that we have moved away from this evolutionary practice of carrying our babies to more 'convenient' separateness of placing a baby in a cot, car seat or the floor. This practice denies the baby it's expectation of closeness, warmth, smell, sounds of mum's breathing and heartbeat and constant movement that he/she has experienced for the last 9 months.

Wearing your baby is simply a continuation of the womb. In our evolutionary process we as humans have had to be born earlier and earlier due to the increased size of our brains. Our bodies have not had time to develop in the womb which is why we can't walk soon after being born as most other mammals can. For this reason carrying a baby constantly in a sling has only benefits for their physical development. Babies do not need to kick on the floor to grow strong enough or practice movements towards crawling. They know innately how to crawl they simply need time and strength (that can be gained through being worn) to do it.

Wearing your baby in a sling or other ergonomic device as constantly as possible during the in-arms phase of his/her life meets a baby's innate evolutionary expectations, therefore helping them to feel secure, develop their self esteem and become independent. Yes meeting a babies expectations of constant physical contact during the in-arms phase (among other innate expectations such as being breastfed on demand) actually helps little humans to become more independent. This makes sense when you understand that a secure, confident baby naturally seeks their independence as they grow. Meeting a babies needs in the present moment meets their expectations. It does not spoil them!

There are many more benefits to wearing your baby. These include:

The physical strength your baby (and you) gains from being carried in a safe, ergonomic way. A baby's legs are often straddled with the thighs or even whole legs fully supported by the sling. The support along with constant movement helps to strengthen the baby's joints.

Babies who are worn have less digestive problems and rarely experience colic or reflux. The upright position and constant jostling help the digestive system through an indirect stomach massage.

A baby in a sling is able to closely observe and be a part of the life of his/her carrier. This is how a baby learns about the world. They disperse their energy through their carrier and are stimulated by the everyday routines of this person.

There are also many benefits for the person wearing the baby, often the mother initially. In some cultures a woman who has recently given birth wraps her torso to support her internal organs in gently finding their correct place again (having been moved and squashed by the presence of the baby). Wearing your baby in a wrap around sling has this added benefit.

It also allows you the freedom to do chores and go where you wish knowing that your baby is happy and secure and can sleep when he/she wants to. Your baby has slept when he/she wants to for 9 months in your womb and does not need (or want) a quiet, still bed in which to sleep.

Fathers and other family members are able to experience the intimate closeness to their new love that wearing a baby offers.

Families who practice Elimination Communication find that wearing a baby makes it very easy to pick up on their need to pee or poo. They quickly learn that the sling is their little nest and do not wish to eliminate in it. They often squirm and do what ever else they can to be let out to eliminate in an appropriate place.

There are many types of babywearing devices available. Here are some of my favourites and more that I am not so familiar with. Please note that the popular 'front pack' (there are a number of brands) does not support your baby's thighs therefore the baby's legs hang and all the weight is on their spine. This is not ideal and I don't recommend a front pack for this reason. I also don't recommend wearing your baby in a outward facing direction. This goes against the natural curvature of their spine and again is not ideal.

Wrap around slings: There are a number of brands out there or you can make your own! You don't even need a sewing machine unless you want to get fancy. For a young baby you can use cotton lycra, 50cm wide and 4.2 metres long (longer if you are big). As your baby gets heavy this type of sling is not ideal. For the first couple of months it's great.

The other option that will also take you through to carrying your baby as a toddler is a tight knit cotton with 'give' but no stretch. Make this one 65cm wide (in order to be able to wear your baby on your back when they are strong enough) and 4.2 metres long (longer if necessary). Depending on the type of material you use it may need hemming or overlocking.

Otherwise there are heaps of wrap around slings on the market. My favourite is the Girasol. Contact Irma Jager at intune@clear.net.nz as she is the NZ importer of these beautiful slings and see http://www.peppermint.com/ for wearing instructions and more great information on baby wearing. This site has heaps of different types of slings that I won't talk about here.

Another good baby wearing device is the ERGO. For information and purchase within New Zealand is http://www.junglemama.co.nz/

As well as the website links in this post - one that will lead you to La Leche League International site! The following book on baby wearing looks interesting. Click on it to read a review. Babywearing: The benefits and beauty of this ancient tradition

Recently (early 2010) there has been talk in the media of the 'dangers' of slings. The hype was quite unsubstantiated but some good points about safe baby wearing has come out of it. www.slingbabies.co.nz a great New Zealand, not for profit educational website has an article on safe babywearing that is worth a read. It also has really good information on wearing, benefits, history, the philosophy of baby wearing and more article - one for Dads.

ENJOY THE WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE OF CARRYING YOUR BABY DURING HIS/HER IN-ARMS PHASE!

Sustainability and Midwifery

In response to Sarah's comments on my 'Raising a nappy free baby' post I just want to write down a few ideas on sustainability and the midwifery profession from my point of view.

I think the most sustainable thing the midwifery profession can do is to encourage women to birth at home. This way there are far fewer resources being used than in the hospital system, there is a greater chance of a natural birth free from interventions such as induction, epidurals, pain relief drugs that get through to the baby and cesarean sections, more chance of immediate and prolonged skin to skin contact and less stress created by being in a familiar environment.

This is coming from someone who had a prolapsed umbilical cord during the homebirth of my son! With no warning it was about to occur, I was grateful that I had just reached second stage and my son was born alive after an episiotomy without anesthetic and 12 minutes of the hardest most painful work I have done! I will have another homebirth as I am quite aware that this was a very rare event and I am scared to think what might have been attempted had I been in the hospital. No intervention could have happened as quickly as I birthed my son.

A bit side tracked there, but I did want to show that it still possible to have rare and very unwanted things happen during a homebirth and still have the ability to deal with it successfully. I could have had anesthetic for the episiotomy, but wasn't willing to waste the time with it!

In order for more women to have natural births with no intervention a midwife can be proactive in informing a pregnant woman on the ways to help their baby present in the best position, be healthy and strong through diet and appropriate exercise, decrease stress in their lives, prepare physically and psychologically themselves and with family members. Preparing a pregnant woman for a positive, intervention free labour and birth is the most sustainable thing a midwife can do. The hospital is always there as a back up. There are risks in labour and birth, but they are no higher than the risks we take going out into the world every day.

Post birth there are many things that a midwife can advise and encourage. I biggest barrier for midwives is the minimal 6 weeks post birth they have with mother, baby and family. Consistency of care for a longer period would enable midwives to support women to breastfeed for longer, make decisions about caring for and raising their babies. I would push for ongoing care for up to a year! This is an issue at the national health system level. At least until this happens (we can advocate for it and hope for the best) a midwife would improve the social sustainability of their profession with greater handover to a well-child network provider, make links for the family with a La Leche League (LLL) Leader and other open and holistic parents support groups such as the Dunedin Conscious Parenting group.

Aspects of raising a baby that I consider to be more sustainable (most are social, though there are definitely elements of environmental and economic sustainability):

- Wearing your baby in a sling, or another ergonomic device that holds the baby safely against mum or any other family member. Frontpacks do not support the baby's hips and spine. The baby must be supported under the full length of his/her thigh when being carried. Countries where babies are carried in this way do not have congenital hip problems.

- Raise your baby without the use of nappies (see my previous post), or use cloth nappies as a back up. Natural Infant Hygiene (nappy free) even part time with the use of cloth nappies as a back up is far more sustainable environmentally and has huge benefits socially.

- Co-sleep safely. More parents in the world sleep with their babies than those who don't. It can be done safely and has been shown to be most effective in the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding.

- Breastfeed. Breast is definitely best. For 2 years and beyond - World Health Organisation recommendation. Unfortunately the NZ health system recommend only 1! It is my opinion that midwives need more training in helping a mother to breastfeed and picking up on problems early. In reality a midwife needs to be a lactation consultant if NZ is to improve our breastfeeding rates. So often women stop breastfeeding before or shortly after 6 weeks (when their midwife no longer supports them). I don't think that one paper on lactation in a midwifery course is enough. Either that or midwives need to have a stronger connections to LLL or a lactation consultant.

-Let your baby lead the weaning process. Baby-lead weaning is a great way to introduce solids. This does not mean you wean your baby from your breast milk! (it's not a great term in that respect!).

-Families need to make informed decisions about vaccinations! Forget your own opinion and offer families information from both sides of the debate. Vitamin K is not a simple vitamin, it's a vaccine! It is possible that the rate of childhood cancer caused by the Vitamin K injection is as high if not higher than the risk of hemophilia that the vaccine is made to prevent!  I was never told this and presumed it was a simple vitamin.

-Encourage families to question the way they treat their babies and children. What messages are we sending our children through our language and actions? Exactly why are we praising them? How do we discipline them with love? Is discipline really necessary? There are some fantastic websites on alternative ways of parenting.

-Controlled crying is not a compassionate way to treat our babies. Babies wake often, they're meant to. It stimulates their growing brains, gives them the chance to breastfeed, be comforted and feel secure. Parents force their babies to sleep through the night for their own sake, not the babies. It would have been great to be blessed with a 'sleeper'. Alas I haven't been. We have tried many things to help our son to sleep through the night, but never have we left him alone to cry. Not even for a minute. That would just be teaching him that we are not going to respond to him when he needs it most. He will learn that we can't be trusted to meet his needs. No thanks! I'll continue my gentle attempts to help him to sleep through the night and endure the sleep deprivation! Some mothers claim that they will be better mothers if they could sleep through the night. I think they mean they'd be better housewives. What does your little baby care if you lie around with them all day and sleep when they do! This has been a great book for me: Gethin, Anni & Macgregor, Beth. (2007?) Helping your baby to sleep: Why gentle techniques work best. Finch Publishing.

I'm sure there are many more ways that midwives can operate and practice sustainably. Please feel free to add your suggestions in a comment. Now speaking of sleep! See ya.