Mom Glow

As doulas, we're here for the mothers.

I Won’t Hold Your Baby

…unless you ask me to, in which case, I will snuggle and cuddle your baby as much as you want me to.

I never ask my clients if I can hold their baby. In fact, I rarely ever touch my client’s baby if I can help it. Sounds sort of like the opposite of what you might picture of a doula, right? We must all be birth crazy, baby obsessed women who just want to cover babies in kisses and love and get an emotional high from attending births?

Not this doula.

I LOVE attending births. Call me crazy, but getting those middle of the night calls is one of my favorite parts of this job. I get to listen to someone at their most vulnerable times - the excitement, the hesitation, the nervousness of the unknown. Being able to provide some comfort, reassurance and continuity of care to the people I work with is so important to me (and them!)

Rushing off in the night, quietly getting myself ready, getting in the car and heading off to their home or hospital makes me feel like I’m on a secret birth mission that nobody around me knows about. When I arrive I fall as seamlessly as I can into the rhythm of the birth and start supporting my clients in whatever way they need most.

When the baby arrives I step aside and leave room for the new parents to discover their baby. I try and grab some photos (I’m not a birth photographer though, so keep your expectations in check!) and then I only step in if my client needs me for some reason.

Why does that matter? Why won’t I ask to hold your baby? Simply because: they are yours, not mine. I want you to be able to hold your baby as close as you want, for as long as you want without anyone interrupting that time. There will be enough people coming along in the next few hours and weeks who need to take that baby out of your arms for whatever reason, and tons of friends and family who will offer help by “holding the baby”.

Instead, I want to hold you, whether that’s in my arms, in my heart or my thoughts. By supporting and “holding” you, I don’t need to hold your baby. But if you ask me to, I would LOVE to.

Written by | Bump and Glow- Montreal Doula Services
Artwork by Spirit Y Sol

Having should not prevent you from having close contact with your baby. 👶🏻👶🏼👶🏽👶🏾👶

Early and exclusive breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact is critical for the baby’s health, especially for babies born early or small.

This position is super important to help baby get into the right position and decrease the probability of having a csection due to a breach baby. You may start at 20 weeks.

🔥 I have shown this to almost all of my Mamas!

How amazing is this illustration by ! 🙌

The Forward-leaning Inversion!
“Create room in the lower uterus. Baby will use that space, with the natural pull of gravity, to snuggle into a more ideal position for birth.”