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Doula Programs: Establishing Need for the Funders
When attempting to fund a doula program with grant awards, petitioners must establish need for the doula program in their community. The report described here will provide you with up-to-date statistics that can be plugged into your grant proposal.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the first of a series of assessments highlighting health disparities by sex, race and ethnicity, income, education, disability, and other social characteristics in the US. The CDC “Health Disparities and Inequalities Report, 2011” includes analysis and reporting of recent trends and ongoing variations in health disparities and inequalities in selected social and health indicators.
Key findings in the report include: large disparities persist in infant mortality rates, with infants born to black women 1.5 to 3 times more likely to die than infants born to women of other races/ethnicities. In addition, adolescent pregnancy and childbirth rates have been falling or remaining steady for all racial/ethnic minorities in all age groups. But disparities remain, with birth rates for Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks at 3 and 2.5 times those of whites, respectively.
The Doula Programs blog provides a forum for doula program visionaries and implementers to consider common challenges, ask questions, and learn from each other. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.
Birth & Parenting News: Fish Consumption During Pregnancy
A study appearing in the November 2010 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition takes a qualitative look at pregnant women’s attitudes about eating seafood. Many pregnant women in the US do not consume enough DHA, an essential nutrient found in fish. Conflicting findings that fish consumption is beneficial for the developing fetus, yet potentially toxic because of mercury contamination, have created uncertainty about the appropriate fish-consumption advice to provide to pregnant women. Researchers conducted focus groups with pregnant women from Boston who ate less than two servings of fish a week, in order to determine knowledge, behaviors, and advice received among this group of women. They found that many women knew that fish might contain mercury and had received advice to limit fish intake. Fewer women knew that fish contains DHA, and none had received advice to eat fish. Many women received advice to limit seafood consumption and either reduced or eliminated their fish intake with pregnancy. They thought a physician’s advice to eat fish and examples of fish that are safe and healthy to eat during pregnancy would have encouraged them to eat more seafood. Review the study.
Here’s our take on it:
It’s well known that eating seafood contaminated with mercury is a threat to human health, and particularly to pregnant women and children. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns pregnant women, nursing mothers, children, and women who might become pregnant to avoid or limit eating certain species of fish due to excessively high levels of methylmercury.
Avoid
• Swordfish
• Shark
• Tilefish
• King mackerel
• Tuna steak
Limit
• Canned tuna (albacore and all-white meat tuna is the worst)
• Sea Bass
• Gulf Coast Oysters
• Marlin
• Halibut
• Pike
• Walleye
• White Croaker
• Largemouth Bass
• Mahi Mahi
• Blue Mussels
• Cod
• Eastern Oysters
• Channel Catfish (wild)
• Great Lakes Salmon
• Gulf Coast Blue Crab
• Lake Whitefish
• Pollack
Best Choices
The following fish/seafood are lowest in methylmercury levels:
• Catfish (farmed)
• Blue Crab (mid-Atlantic)
• Croaker
• Fish Sticks
• Flounder (summer)
• Haddock
• Trout (farmed)
• Salmon (wild Pacific)
• Shrimp
Each Wednesday, our Birth & Parenting News blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.
Doula Business Advisor: Reinvent Yourself!
I have heard from a few doulas lately that they cannot make a “go” of it in their doula business due to the economy. The state of the economy certainly does provide a ready-made excuse for giving up if that’s what you’re looking for. I have no time for folks who want to blame the economy for their woes. I was listening to marketing guru Dan Kennedy the other day talk about “there is no such thing as a down economy–there is only today’s economy.” If what you were doing yesterday isn’t working anymore, then sell SOMETHING different, or sell it TO someone different, or sell it DIFFERENTLY. That concept took hold of my imagination several months ago and the seed was planted for an entire new, expansive, and fruitful direction for my business.
If you are in business for yourself, you are an entrepreneur. Think like an entrepreneur. Failure is not an option. What will work? What can you do with your existing skill set, your time and energy, and your desire? I’ve been self-employed my entire adult life and I’ve been in the childbirth business for 28 years. AND I have reinvented my business multiple times.
The Doula Business Advisor blog is designed to support the establishment and long-term sustainability of private doula businesses. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.
Doula Programs: Funding Sources
Nonprofit doula program directors should check out these funders to see what might be available for maternal-infant health focused initiatives in the coming year. It is not hard to make a case that the one-on-one support that doulas provide can have an positive effect on maternal and infant well being. If you can tie your program in with hot topics such as postpartum depression (education, prevention, early detection, and support services), prematurity, teen pregnancy, and so on, so much the better.
- March of Dimes (look for your state’s chapter)
- The Anna Lalor Burdick Program
- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leaders Program
If you need training to write a competitive grant proposal, check out our focused, in-depth program, How to Write a Winning Grant Proposal, available on DVD, audio CD, or as downloads. This program was presented to an audience of maternal-infant health specialists and focuses on relevant topics. Save yourself the wasted time and effort by learning how to avoid the most common mistakes and get the insider’s perspective on the grant making process.
The Doula Programs blog provides a forum for doula program visionaries and implementers to consider common challenges, ask questions, and learn from each other. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.
Birth & Parenting News: Acupuncture & the Childbearing Year
Acupuncture: Proven to shorten labor and decrease medical intervention. The ancient art of acupuncture has been put to the test when it comes to mamas-to-be. Since 1974, numerous studies have tested acupuncture points to ripen the cervix, help position the baby in the best presentation for labor, and promote optimal energy and stamina for women to enter into labor. The results are as follows.
Benefits of Pre-Birth Acupuncture (weekly starting at week 36):
Shortens labor: Research has demonstrated that the mean duration of labor in a group of women giving birth for the first time was reduced from 8 hours and 2 minutes in the control group (70 women) to 6 hours and 36 minutes in the group of women (70) who had received pre-birth acupuncture.
Decreases medical intervention: Data on 169 women was gathered by 14 midwives as part of their midwifery practice in New Zealand. It found that when comparing all caregivers (midwives, general practitioners, and specialists) to those women who received pre-birth acupuncture there was:
- An overall 35% reduction in the number of inductions (for women having their 1st baby there was a 43% reduction)
- 31% reduction in the epidural rate
- 32% reduction in cesarean delivery
- 9% increase in vaginal births
Turns breech/posterior babies: Breech babies are ideally treated between 33-36 weeks gestation. This generally includes an acupuncture treatment with women being shown how to continue treatment at home with a moxa stick (an herb that has been shaped into a cigar-like stick and held over acupuncture points).
Natural Induction: Acupuncture treatments can stimulate labor in a woman who is past her due date. Research has shown that acupuncture takes from 3 to 60 hours to initiate contractions. At least two treatments are recommended.
This article was written by Monica Mae Leibson of Acupuncture Healthcare Associates of Michigan. Acupuncture is also known to treat infertility; relieve common symptoms during pregnancy such as nausea, heartburn, and low back pain; and help with persistent uterine bleeding postpartum, afterpains, breastfeeding problems, and postpartum depression.
Doula Business Advisor: Gathering Client Testimonials
In order to grow your doula business, it’s important to devote some time each week to marketing. An important component to any print media marketing is client testimonials. Doulas should be collecting these from all clients served. Capture those glowing words of praise and gratitude shared by new families served.
The easiest way to get a testimonial is to ask. If you have a mechanism, such as an evaluation form, that you currently use to obtain written feedback, then just incorporate your request for a testimonial and permission to publish it in the form. On the other hand, if a client gives you a verbal rave review, you can capture their words in writing and send it to them, requesting permission to publish it and inviting them to make any edits they care to make. In many cases, when given this opportunity, clients are likely to embellish their original words and will be much more extravagant in their praise than you would ever be in promoting yourself.
Consider video recording testimonials if you can and uploading these to your website. And don’t forget to include the dads and other partners in your solicitation! Hearing a dad share about how grateful he was for the doula’s presence and support may translate into overcoming the objections of another dad who is reluctant to hire a doula.
Overall, testimonials are a great marketing tool because what others say about us is at least ten times more believable than any claims we make about ourselves. Use them on your website, brochures, flyers, and print ads.
The Doula Business Advisor blog is designed to support the establishment and long-term sustainability of private doula businesses. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.
Doula Programs: Publishing Results
In earlier blogs, I have emphasized the importance of doula program administrators publishing on the results of their efforts. G-CAPP (George Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention) has published its first scientific journal article based on the work of their community-based doula program. “Going Beyond the Call of Doula: A Grounded Theory Analysis of the Diverse Roles Community-Based Doulas Play in the Lives of Pregnant and Parenting Adolescent Mothers.” The Journal of Perinatal Education, Fall 2010, Volume 19, Number 4, pp. 24-40. Check it out!
The Doula Programs blog provides a forum for doula program visionaries and implementers to consider common challenges, ask questions, and learn from each other. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.
Birth & Parenting News: Getting Green Baby Gear on a Thrift Store Budget
Guest Blogger: Laura K. Cowan, founder of 29Diapers.com and author of Ecofrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year
As if learning how to give birth to a baby, care for her and rearrange your life around her weren’t enough to stress you out as an expecting parent, you also have to figure out how to afford her! And many new parents today are also concerned about leaving a healthy planet behind for their children. How do you raise a child in a green household when you’re stretching every dollar to be a stay-at-home parent or pay for daycare?
Great news! Several key green parenting choices are not only better for your baby and the planet, they’re also better for your wallet than the mainstream alternatives! This means that for once, there is an easy choice for parents who want to be green.
Cloth Diapers: Modern cloth diapers are made of high-tech fabrics, fasten with Velcro or snaps, and are easy to clean by just throwing a waterproof bag of them in the washer and dryer twice a week. They’re better for your baby than disposables, which contain chemicals such as dioxin and SAP (which have been associated with endocrine disruption and cancer); they keep one ton of trash per year per kid out of landfills; and they will save you up to $1,000 per year per kid over disposables!
Breastfeeding: Breastmilk has been shown to do everything from kill cancer cells (!) to give adolescents stronger leg muscles than their formula-fed friends. And the financial benefits of breastfeeding also last a lifetime: formula costs $1,200-$1,500 per year per kid. Put that in a college fund and you’ve already saved 15% of the money needed to send your baby to a public university! And since as few as 11% of U.S. moms currently breastfeed, just think of all those formula containers that could be kept out of the landfill by more moms breastfeeding.
Free Baby Gear: The Internet offers new ways for parents to find green and high-quality baby gear for huge discounts or completely for free! Whether it’s through Freecycle groups, blog giveaways, flash sale sites that offer one-day deals of 50% off popular baby items, or online promo codes you can combine with Facebook fan coupons and clearance sales at your local baby boutique, there are dozens of ways to find baby gear at anywhere from 50-100% off.
Laura K. Cowan is a local blogger and the author of Ecofrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year. Her blog, 29Diapers.com, offers a complete explanation of cloth diapers and hosts frequent giveaways. She will be hosting a free talk and book signing at the Ypsilanti District Library on Wed. January 19th at 7 pm, and a class ($30) at Whole Foods on Washtenaw Ave. on Sat. January 22nd. For more information, call (734) 834-2401 or email laurakcowan@gmail.com.
Doula Programs and Tracking Outcomes
What is your doula program doing to track the outcomes of your efforts? In my book, The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business, I outline the importance of tracking AND publishing outcomes for doula programs. It is absolutely necessary to do this if you are serious about making doula services widely available to the community you are serving for years to come. To write a grant proposal worthy of funding, you will need to describe how you are going to evaluate your success in reaching your goals and objectives. In other words, how will you know that you have made a difference for the women and families served by your program? What will be your measurements of success?
This is basic stuff, but it is amazing how many programs fail to: (1) systematically collect essential data; (2) enter that data into a system designed for easy access and assessment; and (3) make an effort to publish and share their results. Obviously, step one is necessary before steps two or three can be accomplished. However, step one is also irrelevant if there is no follow through on the evaluation side of your program. Eventually, even devoted funders who believe in what you are doing with no hard data to back it up, will require some accountability to their constituency.
What are your doula program’s measures of success?
The Doula Programs blog provides a forum for doula program visionaries and implementers to consider common challenges, ask questions, and learn from each other. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.
Birth & Parenting News: Infant Feeding & Maternal Sleep
Study says breastfeeding moms get just as much sleep. A study published online November 8th in the Journal of Pediatrics examines infant feeding methods and maternal sleep and daytime functioning during postpartum weeks 2 through 12. Researchers measured total sleep time, sleep efficiency and fragmentation, subjectively reported numbers of nocturnal awakenings, total nocturnal wake time, sleep quality and sleepiness/fatigue. They report no difference between women who were exclusively breastfeeding, exclusively formula feeding, or using a combination of the two methods. They conclude that efforts to encourage women to breastfeed should include information about sleep. In particular, women should be told that formula feeding does not equal improved sleep.
This new research corresponds nicely with the recent work of Kathleen Kendall-Tackett; you can learn more about her research here.
Each Wednesday, our Birth & Parenting News blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them.