Research and resources for perinatal professionals.
December 08, 2020 | by: Molly Giammarco, MPP
Is getting more involved in Lamaze International and helping families access childbirth education and information to have safer and healther births on your New Year's resolution list? Do you want to collaborate with other people who share the same goals and support Lamaze International's advocacy programs?
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December 03, 2020 | by: Andrea Lythgoe, LCCE
Today, please enjoy the sixth post in the series: Better Childbirth Education By Design, a special Connecting the Dots series written by skilled educator LCCE Andrea Lythgoe. Andrea has been a frequent contributor to Connecting the Dots over the years with some very popular and informative posts. Instruction design is a field that applies systematic approaches to planning education. Lots has been written about its use in a wide variety of fields, from K-12 education to higher education, corporate training and even the US military. In this series - Better Childbirth Education by Design, Andrea introduces readers to a very common model of instructional design, called ADDIE, and demonstrate how childbirth educators can use this process to create and refine your childbirth classes. Today, Andrea discusses using a modular way of activity planning to help you select activities and adapt on the fly when necessary. To find the entire Better Childbirth Education By Design series, follow this link. - Sharon Muza, Connecting the Dots Community Manager.
November 30, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
November 2020 was the eighth consecutive month that I, like many of you, have been teaching all my childbirth classes virtually. I am fully planning that the first half of 2021 will remain virtual. With that in mind, for the November 2020 Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators idea, I thought I would revisit Jeopardy, a fun online game that has been in use as a learning tool for many years. The longtime host of Jeopardy, Alex Trebeck, passed away this month at the age of 80, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Jeopardy, the popular game show that requires the answer to be in the form of a question translates very well to a childbirth class activity. For a wide variety of activities , please browse all 66 previous Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators ideas, by following this link.
November 24, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare just released their National Core Maternity Indicators (NCMI). These indicators are a measure of perinatal clinical activity and outcomes from births in the nation of Australia. The data are meant to be used as baselines, applied to quality improvement efforts and improving best practice. Information is collated from 2004 through 2018, the most recent year of published results. There are 12 indicators that are tracked and the information is summarized for the antenatal period, labor and birth and finally birth outcomes.
November 19, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Connecting the Dots has an occasional series on Welcoming All Families. The goal of this series is to help childbirth educators and other perinatal professionals create a physical and emotional environment and culture that is supportive of the wide variety of families and people who may be attending perinatal classes or receiving perinatal services.
Today’s post discusses a challenge that people of size have when finding clothes that properly fit their changing pregnant bodies. Just like with any other person, larger sized individual experiences the physical changes of their bodies during pregnancy differently. For some large sized pregnant people, their body size and shape does not change very much during pregnancy and for others, there is significant change. Both situations are normal and the challenge becomes finding maternity clothes that fit the plus sized pregnant body. Living in a larger body brings its own set of challenges when it comes to sourcing clothing in the larger sizes needed, and throw in a pregnancy and the challenge becomes even more difficult.
November 17, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Today, November 17th, is World Prematurity Day. Globally, this day is set aside to recognize the signs and risks of premature birth and to understand the impact that premature birth has on babies and families. . One in ten babies are born prematurely around the world. The most recent rate in the United States is 9.7 and that is an increase from the year before. You can find out more global current stats here. Being born prematurely impacts the health and well-being of babies from the moment of birth and throughout their entire life. Additionally, the medical dollars dedicated to caring for premature babies from the time of birth and often continuing for their entire life is immense.
November 10, 2020 | by: Andrea Lythgoe, LCCE
Better Childbirth Education by Design, Andrea introduces readers to a very common model of instructional design, called ADDIE, and demonstrate how childbirth educators can use this process to create and refine your childbirth classes. Today, Andrea discusses creating the "chunks" of time and planned activities that make up your time together with your families.
So you know what your learners want and need, you know what you want to do with your class, and you’re ready to start pulling together a curriculum and planning how you’re going to teach. Start thinking about your strategies for teaching and plan a variety of activities and materials to support your objectives.
November 10, 2020 | by: Lamaze International
Breastfeeding is described as the natural way to feed your baby, but it’s a team effort that takes practice! Between positioning, proper latching and generating milk supply, there is a lot for new moms to learn. To make nursing a pleasant bonding experience for nursing mothers, moms rely on the health professionals specifically trained in this subject. Lactation consultants have a wealth of advice to share and can help turn a frustrating experience into a time of bonding for mom and baby.
Boppy has compiled several tips from lactation experts to support nursing moms.
October 29, 2020 | by: Mallory Emerson, MA, LCCE, CD(PALS)
This puzzle activity can be a simple icebreaker and an opportunity to build community, or can be used to deliver higher level content in a fun, interactive way. I have done it both ways with great success. The puzzle technology platform that I use is Jigsaw Explorer. It is free and takes just a few minutes to set up. With just a link, you can share the puzzle with class members and invite them to complete it as a group or on their own.
October 27, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
Lamaze International is 60 years old this year and Linda Harmon has been at the helm of this remarkable organization for half of that time! After nearly 30 years as the organization's executive director, Linda is retiring and stepping away from the most familiar name in childbirth education for many, people. Hard to imagine all the change and growth that Linda has led and participated in these past three decades. Supporting the board of directors and all the members with her wisdom and leadership skills, Linda has helped shape an organization that is even more relevant than ever to today's educators and families than it was 30 years ago when she first joined the team. I wanted to ask Linda to reflect and share some insight as to what things have stood out for her during her time with Lamaze.
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