Year: 2022

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Teaching about Waterbirth

Teaching about Waterbirth Teaching ideas for birthworkers

Teaching about waterbirth has become one of my favourite topics in recent years. With its many benefits and few downsides, waterbirth is a popular choice among birthing families in the UK.

Ideas for teaching about waterbirth in your antenatal classes

Paperchase: benefits for mother, partner, baby and midwife

Split the class into four groups, each with a sheet of flipchart paper headed: mother/birthing person, father/partner, baby/babies or midwife. Each group brainstorms the benefits of waterbirth for their person. After one minute, groups move on to the next chart and add to it, until every group has had a minute on each chart. Then share the findings as a whole group. This takes around 10–15 minutes.

Dry run with an inflatable pool

A dry run with an inflatable pool is a great way to teach about waterbirth. I usually have the partners set up the pool while I time how long it takes to inflate it and add the liner. Meanwhile, the birthing parents explore pictures of different pool birth environments and positions in the pool. Once the pool is up, we discuss how long it might take to fill and what else they might need. Then every family can try out the pool to get a feel for its size. Be careful when trying positions: an empty pool will tip over if someone leans over the edge, so always have someone at the opposite side to keep it steady.

Brainstorm: home vs hospital practicalities

This works as a whole-group or small-group activity. Give each group a sheet of flipchart paper divided into two sections, and ask families to compare the practicalities of a waterbirth at home and in a hospital or maternity unit.

Pictures: “Why did you pick…?”

Lay out a selection of photos and position cards, including photos of equipment families might need or choose for a waterbirth. Ask each person or family (depending on group size) to pick one picture. Then, as a whole group, share: Why did you choose it? What can we see? How does it make you feel? Any questions about it? I usually use this as an icebreaker and ‘information leveller’.

How do you teach about waterbirth? Please share your ideas with me!

Have you seen my positive birth video collection, including waterbirths? For background reading, see Benefits of Waterbirth.

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10 ways for partners to support breastfeeding

Fathers/Partners support breastfeeding

Is your partner breastfeeding (or chestfeeding) your baby, or planning to? Expectant parents often ask how partners, dads, friends and family can support a breastfeeding parent. Here are 10 ways to help.

1. Learn about breastfeeding

The first step in supporting someone who is breastfeeding is to understand the basics of how it works. Put in some time and effort to learn about the physiology of breastfeeding, and you’ll be the best support your partner could hope for. A fun and interesting read is Kate Evans’ “Food of Love” (Amazon affiliate link). You’ll find more websites and books in the sources and further reading at the bottom of this page.

2. Offer reassurance

Reassure your partner that you’re there to support them, offer encouraging words and be positive about their progress. As with any new skill, reassurance and praise are a great help!

3. Create a comfortable space

Your partner may spend a lot of time feeding your baby, so a comfortable, relaxing space matters. Help set up a ‘nursing nest’ with cushions, snacks, the TV remote, a book, muslin squares and a drink (staying hydrated is important). Many parents keep a little basket of essentials nearby for feeds.

4. Take on more household chores

Take on more than your usual share of chores, and/or get extra help – a postnatal doula, a cleaner or a dog walker, for example. The more your partner can focus on feeding your baby, the better.

5. Get involved in your baby’s care in other ways

Your baby needs much more than feeding! Get involved by playing, reading stories, bathing, changing nappies, taking them for walks and having cuddles. This gives your partner time to recharge or have a shower – and helps you bond with your baby too.

6. Know where to find support

Many places in the UK run regular breastfeeding peer support groups, in person and online. Find out about local groups during pregnancy, and encourage your partner to go along to one or two before the baby arrives. The Breastfeeding Network also has lots of valuable support and information.

7. Offer a massage

A massage can help your partner relax and feel more comfortable, which supports milk flow – the hormone oxytocin is what lets the milk flow. Not everyone loves a massage, but if your partner does, it’s a great way to help!

8. Keep them fed

Feeding the breastfeeding parent is feeding your baby! Plenty of nutritious food (and some treats) helps with comfort, energy and a rewarding feeding experience. Top tip: food that can be eaten with one hand and without cutlery is the most practical during feeds. A pizza cutter is handy too, as you can use it with one hand!

9. Protect their privacy

Too many visitors in the first few weeks can make feeding harder. Help by keeping visitors to a minimum, or inviting them once breastfeeding is established. See my post on visitor boundaries for more ideas.

10. Look after older children

If you have older children, look after them while your baby is feeding. Being able to focus on feeding without worrying about older siblings is incredibly helpful.

10 ways for partners to support breastfeeding

Sources and further reading

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5 must-haves for every antenatal educator

My five must-haves for every antenatal educator are visual and tactile learning aids. They encourage active engagement and participation, and help parents remember what they’ve learned.

1. A pelvis model

A pelvis model helps you explain the mechanics of childbirth and explore helpful positions for labour and birth. I like to pass it round the class, asking parents to point out what they notice and why upright positions might help the birth process. On a budget? Try my printable Build a Female Pelvis activity.

2. A uterus model

A uterus model helps you explain how the uterus works. A knitted or crocheted uterus and a soft ball work really well – some educators use a balloon and a ping-pong ball instead. The soft ball I use is similar to this one (Amazon affiliate link).

3. A placenta model

A placenta model helps explain how the placenta works and what happens during the third stage of labour. It’s also a useful prompt for discussing what parents might like to do with their placenta after the birth.

4. A childbirth timeline

A labour timeline helps you explore what happens when, and how to support the birth process. You could use a timeline banner, a beadline or make your own. Timelines also work really well for exploring induction and augmentation of labour, the birth partner’s role and more. I tend to use more than one type of timeline to emphasise that every labour and birth is unique! See my teaching ideas using labour and birth timelines. I’ve seen birth workers draw their own timelines on the back of a roll of wallpaper, and some very impressive, intricate ones made from fabric! If you’ve made your own, please share a picture – I’d love to see it!

5. Images of positions for labour and birth

These could be photos or drawings, like my childbirth positions cards and printable flashcards, or a poster.

These are my top five must-haves as a perinatal educator and doula. What are the five things you couldn’t teach without?

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Birth Bag – Teaching Ideas

Birth bag teaching ideas for your antenatal classes! As birth workers – doulas, midwives, student midwives or perinatal educators – we aim to prepare expectant parents for their birth experience, and part of that is packing the birth bag (aka hospital bag).

Birth bag teaching ideas for in-person classes

Show and tell

Ask each family to bring up to three items for their birth bag to the next class. During “show and tell”, they share their items and why they chose them.

Brainstorm

Split the class into similar-sized groups. For couples’ classes, I split into two or four groups, separating birthing parents from birth partners. Each group writes or draws the items they’d like to take to the birth – giving you one list for birthing parents and a separate list for birth partners! If you’d rather not use paper and pens, or want to set this as homework or a pre-course task, try a Mentimeter word cloud instead (see below).

Paperchase

Split the group into three and set out three sheets of flipchart paper and pens. I like to draw a suitcase outline on each and add a heading: birthing parent, birth partner or baby. Each group brainstorms on its sheet for two minutes, then moves on to the next sheet to add to it, and then to the last one.

Sorting game

My Hospital Birth Bag Sorting Game is a ready-made, no-prep way to get everyone talking about what to pack.

Birth bag teaching ideas for virtual classes

Birth bag scavenger hunt

A good old scavenger hunt is a great way to explore what might go in a birth bag! It gets clients thinking about what they need and would like, and gets them off their seats during a virtual course. I like to include it as part of the break: I share my screen with a short list of things that might be useful for the birth, then ask clients to grab a drink and a snack, go to the loo, and bring as many items as they can back to the screen within 15 minutes.

You’ll find my very long birth bag list in another blog post – pick a few items from it, or write your own short list!

Birth bag teaching ideas

Word search

A birth bag word search is another way to create engagement in online classes. I make mine on my husband’s website, add it to my slides, and ask parents-to-be to annotate the slide with what they find. Then we discuss what they would add to or remove from their birth bag.

Birth bag word search for virtual antenatal classes
A word search – a teaching idea for virtual antenatal classes

Quick competition – show and tell

Like the scavenger hunt, I like to build this into a break. It’s far too easy to stay sat in one place during an online workshop, so this is another way to get clients moving and engaged!

Ask each couple or client to think about what they might need during the birth, and bring three items back to the screen – three items each, helpful to themselves, not their partner.

This is often the first time birth partners realise they need to look after themselves too, and may need some comfort items of their own.

Word cloud

Set up a word cloud on Mentimeter and ask clients to add their essential items. It’s a very engaging, fun and visual way to build a birth bag list together – and it’s anonymous! You can save the results as an image or PDF afterwards and send them out as a reminder or handout.

Example of Mentimeter word cloud results
An example of Mentimeter word cloud results

How do you teach the topic of birth bags in your childbirth preparation classes? Please share your ideas in the comments or email me!

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Clothes checklist for your summer baby

Having a baby this summer? Congratulations! You may be wondering how many clothes, and which types and layers, your baby will need.

When buying baby clothes, make sure they are machine washable, flame-resistant and made from soft, comfortable materials. Choose clothes that open at the front or have wide, envelope-style necks – this makes frequent nappy changes much easier!

The checklist below is a minimum guide only, and you may like to have a few spares of each item if your budget allows. Please also see the guidance from BASIS and The Lullaby Trust.

Clothes checklist for your summer baby

  • 4 sleepsuits/babygrows
  • 4 vests or bodysuits (check for a wide neck opening) – short-sleeved ones are ideal on hot days
  • 2 cardigans or jackets
  • 4 wide-necked cotton T-shirts or dresses
  • 4 pairs of trousers, leggings, shorts or skirts
  • 1 summer sun hat (for outdoors)
  • 2 pairs of socks
  • 1 light baby blanket

As well as clothes, your baby will need nappies (reusable or disposable) – and you’ll want plenty of muslin squares! They’re very handy for protecting your clothes, mopping up sick and other bits and bobs, and can even double as an emergency nappy or breast pad 😉

Not sure how many layers your baby needs? My baby clothing layers guide shows you at a glance. Expecting a winter baby instead? See my clothes checklist for your winter baby, and for hot days, my tips for keeping your baby cool.

Baby clothing layers guide
How many layers should my baby wear at night?

Sources and further reading:

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How to use your childbirth timeline banner?

How to use your childbirth/labour timeline banner?

Here are 11 ideas 💡 for using your childbirth timeline banner (or beadlines) in your classes.

How to use your childbirth/labour timeline banner
How to use your childbirth/labour timeline banner

For group work, I recommend the large timeline banner; for 1:1 work, the smaller banners and/or beadlines. You can adapt any of the activities below for groups or 1:1 sessions, using either the banners or the beadlines.

1. Explore how birth might unfold

Reveal the timeline bit by bit, starting at the beginning of the birth journey. You might point out the changes happening inside the body: how the cervix softens and dilates, and how the baby moves. My Stages of Labour worksheets, activities and visual aids make a great visual add-on.

Exploring physiological birth with the childbirth timeline banner
Exploring physiological birth with the childbirth timeline banner

2. Add comfort measures along the line

Explore medical and non-medical comfort measures. As you discuss the pros and cons, add when each option might be offered or commonly used – for example, “When is too early or too late for an epidural?” I like to use little props, like a rubber duck for “water or birth pool”.

Exploring comfort measures along the labour timeline banner
Labour timeline banner – exploring comfort measures

3. Explore induction and augmentation

As with comfort measures, the timeline is an excellent way to explore which methods of induction and augmentation are available locally, and when they might be offered. I like to use my induction discussion prompt cards and some props. See also my induction of labour decision activity.

Exploring induction and augmentation of labour along the timeline banner
Exploring the options and timing of induction and augmentation of labour

4. Explore the role of the birth partner

Exploring the birth partner’s role as one of the guardians of oxytocin is an important part of many antenatal classes. The timeline helps birth partners work out what they might be doing, and when. I hand out sticky notes and pens and ask everyone to write or draw what they might be doing at each point.

5. Explore birth place and birth environment

While birth partners explore their role, I usually ask the birthing parents to explore their birth place and environment, with some questions to think about: Where will you be during early labour, established labour and so on? How can you make your birth space as comfortable as possible? Who will be there with you? This leads nicely on to what to pack in the birth bag, where they might like to give birth (home, hospital or midwife-led unit) and their birth plan or preferences. My Birth Place Decisions card sort works well here too.

6. Explore feelings along the timeline

How might the birthing parent be feeling? How does the birth partner feel? And how might the baby feel at that moment? I split the group into three, giving each a different colour of sticky notes – one colour each for baby, birthing parent and birth partner. They write or draw faces showing how that person might be feeling and stick them along the timeline.

7. Explore helpful positions

I use my positions for childbirth cards (also available as printable flashcards) and ask parents to place them along the timeline.

Positions for childbirth cards along the timeline banner
Positions for childbirth cards along the labour/childbirth timeline banner

8. Explore hypnobirthing techniques

Simply ask: “Which hypnobirthing technique or track is most helpful, and when?” Give each person a card or piece of paper with a technique, or a copy of a script, then ask, “When would you use this?” Each person, couple or family places their item along the timeline in turn.

9. Explore breathing techniques

As with the ideas above, use printed cards and ask parents-to-be to place them along the timeline, exploring which breathing techniques might help at different stages of their birth journey.

10. Explore massage techniques

Try out different massage techniques together and explore which might be most helpful or comfortable during labour. Pictured here are my massage technique cards, which are also available as printable flashcards.

Massage technique cards along the childbirth timeline banner
Exploring massage techniques for childbirth

11. Explore the golden hour

Finally, when exploring the third stage of labour (the birth of the placenta), explore the golden hour and skin-to-skin, and why they help with the birth of the placenta, bonding and starting breastfeeding. For this, I use my newborn appearance photo set and, where appropriate and agreed with the group, placenta photos or my placenta and cord poster.

Placenta, third stage of labour and newborn appearance photo cards
Exploring the golden hour of childbirth

Want to make your own labour beadline? Take my self-paced online beadline course or use my Labour Beadline pattern.

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Halloween craft activities for your newborn!

Your newborn is probably a bit young for trick or treating, so here are some Halloween craft ideas to enjoy together instead!

Halloween crafts with your newborn

Use your baby’s hand and/or footprints to make Halloween crafts. They make fun decorations for your home and become a lovely keepsake! You could make the same picture every year to see how much your little one’s hands and feet have grown.

Top tips for hand and footprints with babies:

  • If your baby is old enough to sit safely in a highchair, pop them in it for easy, less messy access to their feet.
  • If they’re too young for a highchair, do their footprints while they’re asleep, or ask a friend or family member to help.
  • Use water-based, baby-safe paints, and check the label to see whether they wash out or might stain.
  • Handprints are easier when babies are a little older – newborns tend to keep their hands curled into tight fists. Your best chance of a newborn handprint is when they’re fast asleep!

Here are some Halloween craft ideas for you and your newborn:

I’ve created a Pinterest board with more hand and footprint Halloween ideas for you and your baby!

Happy Halloween! Share your pictures with me in the comments!

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Birth Partner Do’s and Don’ts

Birth Partner do's and don'ts

Going to be a birth partner? Here are some birth partner do’s and don’ts – well, mostly do’s. You’ll work out the don’ts from reading them!

To be a supportive, confident and well-informed birth partner, try the following:

  • Go to childbirth preparation classes with your partner. They’ll help you understand what’s happening and what she’s talking about – and there’s some new vocabulary to learn, too!
  • Be reachable by phone, especially as the due date gets closer.
  • Pack your own hospital or home birth bag, with a change of clothes, swimwear for the birth pool, your own drinks and snacks (please don’t eat or drink hers!) and maybe some comfy shoes or slippers.
  • Know how to fit the car seat, and keep it in the car.
  • Know the route to the hospital or birth unit, and keep the car fuelled up (or charged).
  • Know where her maternity notes are (or how to access them on her phone).
  • Agree who to tell about the birth, and when. Make a list of contact details.
  • Make sure your phone or camera is charged and has plenty of storage space – maybe keep a power bank in your bag!
  • Support your partner wherever you can, and take over tasks like shopping, cooking, laundry and cleaning so she can rest before and after the birth.
  • Know and understand your partner’s wishes in her birth plan, and add your own too. Even better: write it together!
  • If you have older children or pets, make sure you know who will look after them and how to contact them.
  • If this isn’t your first baby, take over looking after and entertaining the older one(s) whenever you can, to give mum a break before and after the birth.
  • To practise for labour and birth, offer a massage and/or a slow dance twice a week in the run-up to the birth. Then use these techniques during labour to help your partner feel more comfortable.
  • Practise affirmations together. You can download free affirmations here, and there are some examples below.
Positive birth affirmations
Positive birth affirmations
Positive birth affirmations
Positive birth affirmations
Positive birth affirmations
Positive birth affirmations

I hope you find these ideas useful! If you’ve been a birth partner before, share what worked for you and your partner in the comments – we’d love to know. For more ideas, see my Birth Partner Hacks.

My online birth preparation course is for birth partners, too!

Please also check out my online course! No videos, just text and images to learn in your own time. Includes hypnobirthing mp3s, scripts, workbook, handouts, infographics and much more! Lots and lots of information at your fingertips! Includes:

  • hypnobirthing mp3s
  • hypnobirthing scripts
  • written information
  • infographics and other imagery
  • printable handouts
  • printable workbook/journal
Enroll now
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Bottle-feeding for breast-fed babies

love cute kids baby

How can I get my breastfed baby to take a bottle?

To be honest, like so much about birthing and raising children, it’s a lot of trial and error. There’s no one-size-fits-all or quick fix – every baby, and every relationship between baby and parent, is unique.

The suggestions below for introducing a bottle to your breastfed baby come from years of working with new parents.

When should I introduce a bottle?

The timing is up to you, and depends on why you’re introducing a bottle and whether you want to keep breastfeeding or mix feed. Some parents need to stop breastfeeding earlier than they’d hoped for medical reasons, or because they’ll be away from their baby. Others choose to stop, or to start mixed feeding, out of personal preference. Anything is possible, and there’s no single best time – your family and circumstances are unique.

How do I start?

  • Choose a day when your partner or main support person is around. Your baby may accept a bottle more easily from someone other than the breastfeeding parent. They know their milk comes from you, and may not understand why it’s now coming from this new object.
  • Choose a time when your baby is calm and settled. A settled baby is usually more open to new things.
  • Start small. At first, offer the bottle about an hour after a breastfeed, with a small amount (around 15ml/½oz) of breast milk or formula.
  • Get the temperature right. Breastfed babies are used to milk at body temperature (about 37°C) and can be fussy about it. Warm refrigerated breast milk in a bowl of warm water, a bottle warmer or under warm running water. Cool freshly made-up formula in a bowl of cold water or under cold running water.
  • Leave the room (or the house). Sometimes the breastfeeding parent needs to be out of the way so the baby can’t smell their milk.
  • Be patient. Gently touch your baby’s upper lip with the teat and let them ‘latch on’ as they would to the breast. If they get upset and haven’t fed after 10 minutes, stop and try again later or the next day.
  • Bond with your baby. Talk to them and make eye contact. Skin-to-skin can help too – it helps your baby relax and settle, and stimulates their interest in feeding.
  • Try different teats and bottles. You might strike lucky with the first one, but if not, there are plenty more to try:
    • Short, rounded teats with a wide base are thought to give an experience more similar to breastfeeding.
    • Some babies gag on longer teats, so shorter ones may suit them better.
    • Warm the teat with warm water before feeding.
  • Try different positions. The positions babies prefer for bottle feeding are often different from breastfeeding positions. Try a facing-out position so your baby can look around the room, or walk around while feeding.
  • Try a spoon, a free-flow cup, a Doidy Cup or a small open cup. If you’d rather not use a bottle, or you’ve tried everything and it hasn’t worked, you could try one of these instead. Hold your baby upright and well supported on your lap. Bring the spoon or cup to their mouth and touch the milk to their upper lip, letting them take the milk themselves at their own pace. Never pour milk into your baby’s mouth, as this could make them choke.

Responsive (paced) bottle feeding

For anyone feeding their baby with a bottle, responsive or paced bottle feeding is recommended by the NHS.

Recognise feeding cues, and feed your baby when they show signs of hunger.
Hold your baby close, in a semi-upright position, during feeds.
Brush the teat against your baby’s top lip to encourage them to open their mouth wide. Keep the bottle fairly horizontal.
Watch your baby and follow their cues when they need a break.
Your baby knows how much milk they need – follow their lead.
Responsive (paced) bottle feeding
Responsive bottle feeding visual guide
Responsive (paced) bottle feeding – a visual guide

Here is a video on paced bottle feeding:

Sources, references and further reading

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Icebreakers for antenatal classes

Icebreakers for antenatal classes: break the ice, bond the group and help create lifelong friendships!

Successful group antenatal and parenting classes need icebreakers. They help participants engage with the content, get to know the facilitator and each other, and build a bond as a group.

I’d start with an icebreaker that goes round the whole group early on. Research suggests that once everyone has spoken once, they are more likely to ask questions and join in later.

Icebreakers can be really simple – for example, asking the group a question and inviting each person to say their name and give their answer.

Some icebreaker questions for your antenatal classes (choose just one per round):

  • One thing I already know about my/our baby is…
  • My biggest question about becoming a parent is…
  • As a new parent, I’m looking forward to…
  • My greatest fear about being a parent is…
  • As a new parent, I’m not looking forward to…
  • One quality I would like my child to have is…
  • One thing I’ve done or changed because we’re having a baby is…
  • As a new parent, I hope I can…
  • One thing I’d like to achieve in our baby’s first week at home is…
  • Becoming a parent means to me…
  • One person I would like my/our baby to meet is…
  • When I need support, I can turn to…
  • One thing I’ll gain as a new parent is…
  • One thing I’ll lose as a new parent is…
  • My/our baby will sleep in…
  • When I hear the word ‘breastfeeding’, I think…
  • If I had an extra hour a day (while everyone else still had 24), I would…
  • When I see someone breastfeeding, I feel/think…
  • When I see someone bottle feeding, I feel/think…
  • When I need advice, I’ll ask…
  • When I think about parental leave, I feel…
  • When I think about returning to work, I feel…

Let each person give their answer without commenting on it. Questions like these encourage discussion of topics you may not otherwise cover, and are also great for revision and group bonding.

More icebreaker ideas:

  • Goodie bag activity – fill a bag with items (one per person or couple), such as birth bag, nappy bag or postnatal recovery items. Each person or couple picks one at random. Then go round and ask each ‘owner’ to talk about their item: What is it? What might it be used for? My Hospital Birth Bag Sorting Game works well for this topic too.
  • People bingo – each participant gets a “people bingo” card and has to talk to others to find people who match each statement, such as “Has a red car”, “Doesn’t drink tea” or “Is left-handed”.
  • Scavenger hunt – when facilitating online, I often use a scavenger hunt. I put a list of items on the screen, usually linked to a topic such as the birth bag, and ask participants to find as many as they can. It always creates lots of laughter and gets people moving instead of sitting in front of a screen!
  • Physical skills demo – ask each person or couple to demonstrate a breathing technique, a position for childbirth or a massage technique, and encourage everyone else to join in.
  • Anatomy icebreaker – my Pregnancy Anatomy Icebreaker gets everyone talking from the very first session.

Find more activities for your antenatal and parenting classes in my digital downloads.

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Sources and further reading

  • Chlup, D. T., & Collins, T. E. (2010). Breaking the Ice: Using Ice-breakers and Re-energizers with Adult Learners. Adult Learning, 21(3–4), 34–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/104515951002100305
  • Gillet, S., Winkle, K., Belgiovine, G. and Leite, I. (2022). Ice-Breakers, Turn-Takers and Fun-Makers: Exploring Robots for Groups with Teenagers. 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Napoli, Italy, pp. 1474–1481. doi: 10.1109/RO-MAN53752.2022.9900644
  • Pearce, E., Launay, J. and Dunbar, R. I. M. (2015). The ice-breaker effect: singing mediates fast social bonding. R. Soc. Open Sci. 2: 150221. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150221