How Should a Doula Eat While Supporting a Client?
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Kaely Harrod 00:04
Welcome to doula Tips and Tits. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about doula work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaely Harrod. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born 12 nearly 13 years ago. I am a birth and postpartum doula childbirth educator, La Leche League Leader and a doula coach. I love guiding and supporting doulas as they work out their doula business. It is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way. Thank you for joining us on this journey. Welcome back to doula Tips and Tips. Today's episode is digging into the question, what should do let's plan to eat during a birth? Now? I like everything like every single episode we ever do. There is nuance here. So I'm going to give you a little bit of nuance of why I think these are important things to think about. And also just kind of some brainstorming to get you started thinking about them. Okay. So to start off with, I think it's really important for you as a doula to have a sense of what offerings are available at the places where you're going to be attending births. So let's say you're going to be attending births at hospitals. And it's important to know, do those hospitals have food overnight? Do they have like a room where you have access to a fridge that you can put stuff in or not? Do they have like a hot water maker? So you could add hot water to something and eat something warm? And if you're going to be like at a birth center? Do they have a fridge and a little kitchen area that you can use? Do they? Are they near someplace that can deliver food, right? Are they kind of in proximity to someplace that you can eat? If you're going to someone's home? Is the plan for them to have food for you? Or do you need to have food for yourself? Like what does that look like? Right? Because that looks different every time. Now, if you are not yet aware of where you'll be attending birth, so let's say you're brand spanking new doula, which is wonderful. Congratulations, welcome to the profession. If that's you, I want you to think about how you can have conversations with other people who attend births in your area and get some of this information. But you also can honestly Google and find most of the information about the hospitals, especially online. So that's a good way to kind of get a sense of what what offerings are available to you. And then if you're going to go to a birth center or something, look it up on Google Maps, and see what's around there so that you have a sense of what you have access to, but also then just call the birth center, and say, Hey, I'm a doula. I'm going to be coming there. At some point, I'd really like to know, like, Do you have a fridge that doulas can put stuff in, right? Because that also gives you a good sense of what your options are, when you're at a certain facility. Now, when you're thinking about birth, support food for yourself, all of those different things really matter, right? All of that that context that I'm saying matters, not just for you to share with your client, but also for you. So think about something for me, if you are at a shift all night long, then you're going to need to eat like it's the middle of the daytime. So when you're at a birth overnight, and you're awake all night, you need to eat like you have a lunch break at like 3am. And part of the reason for that is your body can't really function well being awake when you're normally sleeping, and also not eating like you're awake. Because in the middle of the night, you're sleeping, and that's why you don't eat right. But if you're awake in the middle of the night, you need to eat like you were awake during the daytime. Okay, so that's a very, very important thing to factor in for your own well being when you're attending overnight births. Now, one thing I want you to think about is snacks versus actual food. Now I could snack all day long at a birth. But if I'm there for a long time, I need a legitimate meal. Now in the DC area, every hospital is very different. There are a few hospitals that have legitimate overnight like 24 hour options. We have one that has a Starbucks, we have one that has a Panera, both of them are literally open 24 hours a day. So that means when I'm going to those hospitals, I know that I have access to those foods, even at 3am. Right. There are also a few hospitals that you don't really have access to much besides like a water and ice machine. And so then those are places that I need to have some more substantial food and beverage options for myself, because I need to be able to eat something if I'm there for a very long time, so that I have the stamina to be a good Support for my client right? Now, sometimes births are going quickly enough for needing a lot of assistance and you can't necessarily break to eat food very easily. And so in that case, it's really important to have things that you can like, pop one of them in your mouth and keep going right? Things I really liked for that are things like peanut butter crackers, so they have some carbs, they have some protein, they you can, like the round ones can just be like literally popped in your mouth. Although I will be fair, that I have choked on those suckers a few times. So maybe be careful when you're doing that, because I've definitely like inhaled some crumbs in that scenario, and then had a coughing fit, which is unhelpful in the midst of birth. But they are an excellent source of protein. Another super quick snack that I like is an applesauce pouch, because I can literally like stick it in my mouth like it's a straw and suck the applesauce out of it. I know that maybe sounds very strange, but it's actually a super efficient way to eat a snack. And so those are two things that I really like. I also like really high protein, protein bars. So I don't love a bunch of different brands. But there are a few that I do really like and I will use those to get like a bite of some really good protein that I can actually also enjoy, right. I also bring good liquids. So I bring usually like a an electrolyte drink, I have electrolyte packets, I tried to have some some form of like protein, water or like a workout recovery drink if I can, or juice to have some extra vitamin C and also some extra protein and some extra sugar. And so those are some things that I am strategic about, especially at those places that I don't have access to a restaurant or a fridge. And also at places like a home birth or birth center where I'm bringing my own food and drink for the whole scenario. Okay. The other thing I want you to think about is what kind of food you can be sustained on given kind of your normal pattern of eating right. So what's not helpful for you is to eat things that normally upset your stomach, for instance, right are aren't things that are in your typical diet, because that's gonna mess your own body up in a way that is completely unhelpful and unsustainable long term. So I like to think about like, having sort of some snacky things. But knowing that I can't do that for more than maybe like, a few hours before I need some legitimate food because my body is going to start kind of freaking out about the fact that I've just eaten peanut butter crackers and applesauce pouches, right. So I want you to also consider your own needs in that because I think as doulas it's really hard to put our needs first in the midst of of birth. And I know that maybe sounds like oh, what put our needs first. But actually, you can't do live very well if you're not feeding yourself, right. So you need to have a game plan for something like food, and also have kind of a game plan for substantial food and also some snacky stuff. Knowing that of course, there are scenarios where you have to delay eating for whatever reason. Yes, obviously, right. But also most births aren't like that, like most births do have space for you to set up the partner to do something and then be able to walk out on eat a quick sandwich and come back, or like pop an applesauce pouch in your mouth while you walk to get water for the whole room. You know, do some creative thinking around when and how you can eat so that you are not completely ignoring your own needs because that is incredibly unhelpful and not at all sustainable. Okay. I do have a link in the show notes to sign up for our newsletter if you'd like to do that. My newsletter is kind of a new thing as of this summer. And so I would really love to have you on that list. If you want to be go ahead and click that link in the show notes and you'll get a signup form for that. And until next time, I wish you well informed consent filled birthing experiences. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the doula Tips and Tits podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Harrod doula, so we can celebrate alongside you. If you found this podcast helpful. We would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app that helps other doulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment it is not medical advice or business advice please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business we'll see you again soon
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Food is something that can be easily overlooked when looking at preparing for a birth. Taking care of you while also taking care of your clients is important and part of that is making sure you are sustaining yourself for the sometimes long, long labors you are in. This week we are talking about what to eat as a doula to make sure you’re in top shape to help your clients and their babies.
Quote from the show:
“They're completely inexperienced in everything, right? And so sometimes that first latch takes a little bit of time to happen. And I think it's really important to normalize that for your clients. So they're not just like, oh, my gosh, my kid doesn't know how to do it, right from the get-go. And that doesn't completely freak them out. Okay. So it's normal for a baby to start by smelling and licking and kind of rubbing their face around and doing that kind of stuff before they really get a good latch and start sucking. All of that is normal. All of that should be normalized for the person who's just given birth. ”
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
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CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
