Do you believe in sister power? Women helping women? 

I believe in it so much so as doula is a sister power and if you are a doula, you are a doula in your daily life as well. So…

I want to introduce you to Şebnem. She is one of my dearest friends. She is a great artist: handmade glass jewelry artist and illustrator and her products are being sold nationally and internationally. Since she and I, we both own our own business, we come together once a month to help each other to get to the next step. We are both passionate about our topics, we have dreams so we speak the same language in terms of work. You should check her instagram account @sebnemkurtul and her website www.sebnemkurtul.com  

In today's newsletter:

Introduction

Birth without violence 

New research about babywearing and breastfeeding

My new certification

Dear First name / friend,

The headline of August was wildfires that were all around the world and around Turkey. I was actually in Bodrum while it was burning. It was so sad to lose so many hectares of forests and to hear about how village people have lost their homes and animals. I believe with all my heart that nature will heal itself and it will affect it all if we do at least a little for our planet. You mama, you have the opportunity to change the world just by changing births and raising responsive children and I know you will. Let your heart be your guide. It will give you all the answers. 

I have been reading the book “Birth without Violence” by Frederick Leboyer. It was written in 1974 and my edition was published in 1978! I bought it as second hand and it is very special to me. There are some notes inside from the previous owner and it is a very old edition. You can check the current edition from the link. 

It is very heartrending though how the things described as violence in the book are still the practices during childbirth in most of the hospitals today, how the awareness of a baby during birth is still ignored, how birth is only seen as a physiological event or even more a medical event but how we miss the spiritual part…

“Then what can we tell the baby? “Tell” is not the right word. The baby should be addressed in its own language. The language that precedes words… We must go back still further and rediscover the universal language. Which is simply the language of love… And what is the essential language of lovers? Not speech. Touch." Frederick Leboyer

There is a very recent research named  “An Infant Carrier Intervention and Breastfeeding Duration” We already know the effect of skin to skin contact right after birth on breastfeeding and babywearing has always been referred as the continuous skin contact with a baby in the fourth trimester. Now these informations came together in this research showing us that everything is connected and babywearing improves the breastfeeding rates. The babies who were carried by a carrier are more likely to be breastfeed or get breastmilk (expressed) for 6 months after birth. You can reach the full research here.  As a newborn babywearing consultant, it is not a surprise to see this result but still it is great to see it in evidence throughout a research. It is not easy to do researches and experiments on babies and mothers so it is very precious. 

Last but not least, I completed my training “The Infant Microbiome and Epigenetics” and got my certificate. I am very glad that I got this training. There are so many details that nature has intended with pregnancy, vaginal delivery and breastfeeding. Everything is perfectly designed, everything is in the right order. Of course sometimes this process needs some interventions and it is also good to know the ways to recover. I can't wait to share with you more in my Childbirth Education classes and in my blog! 

… that in the first days of breastfeeding you feel some cramps in your belly. Since you are breastfeeding, you secrete oxytocin and it causes cramps so that your uterus can return back to its pre-pregnancy size.

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