I'm wondering, during prenatals, how much time do you spend talking about baby care/options? For example- circ, vaccines, delayed cord clamping, that kind of thing.

Generally at the first prenatal we talk about labor and comfort measures. Second prenatal we review labor and then talk about delivery and immediate postpartum.

I seldom talk about vaccines unless asked. Its one of those topics where I don't want to be swaying people one way or the other. They don't vaccinate in the hospital here so it doesn't come up during the birth plan like the other topics do. If people ask me I tend to steer them towards Dr Sears Vaccine book. The other things come up when we go over birth plan preferences. I provide info on anything they have questions on and we discuss pro and cons of some things. The amount of time spent often depends on the mom and of course whether it is a first baby or not.

Janeya

I mention it and I ask if they have any questions. Then I give them resources to read up. Here in Brazil baby boys are not routinely circ. But I definetly think it depends on the mom and her needs. Some ask for more info about a cetain topic.

My third prenatal is a breastfeeding video and it brings up spin off points that I want to reinforce or bring up. Usually we spend about an hour on breastfeeding.

One thing I think doulas need to remind themselves is that unless they are childbirth educators, being hired to provide complete childbirth education, they don't need to feel like they have to cover "everything".

Birth plans, comfort measures, etc are what clients are usually looking for. Providing additional resources is fine but shouldn't consume the bulk of our time with them.

I ask in my intake interview if baby is a boy and if he'll be circ'ed. I know from experience in our area that they won't usually be able to get it done at the hospital so they need to see if their ped will do it and if not find a urologist who will do it in office and with local anesthesia. We also cover how the trauma of being circ'ed even with anesthesia will usually cause baby to shut down for 24 hours and will often times result in a decrease in nursing.

I have a short list of stuff that I encourage them to look into because they will have to decide shortly after birth:
Vitamin K
erythromycin
hearing tests
cerc
kangaroo care (for premies)
whooping cough vaccine (I send them to CBC)

I think vaccines are out of SOP. We don't get any training in it as a doula.

Most (all?) of my clients take a CBE class, so I get to go over stuff that isn't usually covered like:
How to be empowered in a hospital
Breastfeeding tips
what I can do to help and when
Engaging dad in what works for him

The only thing that I cover with all my clients that is not really doula related is:
What dad does better than mom (cause the boobs don't get in the way).

parenting: I tell clients that they can question everything. There is a lot of room for learning. And not to take anyone's advice (even mine) unilaterally. They will figure out what works best for them. And there is time for everything and to trust their intuition.

I do offer info at the PP on: EC, basic sign instruction, some sleep hints, and pumping help---not as a doula (what does a birth doula know about sign language?) but as a thoughtful mom whose brain they get to pick. These are things that have worked for me, and if they want to know about them, I am happy to share.

so, what is it that dads do better? really curious!

Walk baby to sleep without nursing
Shower with baby
sing fussy baby to calm baby (babies like the deeper voice) --although singing from mom is great too
EC (Mom's first thought is usually nurse, dads and other care givers are more likely to look for other reasons too).

Too often dads feel like they are relegated to poop duty, and I try to expand their ownership role of baby!