Birth, Baby & Beyond Blog
5 Weird Things People Say When You Have Twins
August 3rd is National Twin day. Yay! Several of our postpartum clients over the years have been parents of twins. Twins are absolutely a blessing. They’re also a lot of work! Whether we’re talking about growing them in pregnancy, getting them through...
5 Things You Can Do to Prepare to Breastfeed
The idea that you need to prepare to breastfeed might surprise you. Maybe you thought “Hey, I’m a person with boobs” (or chest tissue with mammary glands, depending on how you identify). “I’m having a baby, and breastfeeding is natural. I’ll be able to do...
Breaking the Breastfeeding Cone of Silence
We don’t talk enough about the realities of breastfeeding in the US. And it’s leaving new parents totally unprepared. Oh sure, we encourage breastfeeding. Hospitals have nurses trained in lactation. Many hospitals have a lactation consultant...
Why You Don’t Need a Baby Nurse, or Night Nanny
You’re having a baby. Congratulations! And you already know that you don’t want to handle the nighttime parenting by yourself. Maybe you have a demanding job, a medical condition, or (God forbid) you just don’t want to sacrifice yourself on the altar of...
Dear Doula, I Was Angry With My Baby
Dear Doula, I feel absolutely terrible. Last night, my baby just wouldn’t stop crying. I think that’s supposed to make me feel sadness, and sympathy. That’s how I normally feel. But I was exhausted. I just went back to work a week ago, and waking a...
A Manual Breast Pump? Seriously?
Most of our clients who breastfeed need to pump at some point. They’re going back to work after maternity leave, exclusively pumping from the beginning, or they just know that at some point they’ll want to be away from their infant, and they want their...
Who Needs a SNOO? A Review of the “Smart Bassinet” from a Postpartum Doula
Have you heard about the latest and greatest in baby sleep contraptions? It’s called the SNOO Smart Sleeper, and it’s designed by Dr. Harvey Karp, creator of the Happiest Baby series, and the 5 Ss. This bassinet is the robot that’s coming for the jobs of night...
Advice for Black Maternal Health Week, from a Black Doula
DCMM is staffed entirely by women of color and run by a black woman. It’s intentional, and we want our clients to feel safe. For some, that means a black doula or a Latina doula, and a team that looks like them. Thankfully, families of all sorts do in fact feel...
Meet Your Doula: Yenie Perez
Yenie Perez is a Labor Doula and Hypnobirthing Practitioner in Columbia, MD. We're excited to have her on the team! Learn more about her below. How long have you lived in the DC area? I have 8 months in the DC area and loving it. What do you love about living...
Meet Your Doula: Ashleigh Menzies
Ashleigh Menzies is a Postpartum and Infant Care Doula and Childbirth Educator in Washington, DC. We're excited to have her on the team! Learn more about her below. How long have you lived in the DC area? I've lived in the DC area for 15 years. I moved...
In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within oursleves.
– Jon Kabat-Zinn