Novel use for a baby sling, DONA conference

I spent Thurs-Sat in San Francisco again for the Doulas of North America
conference (was there 3 wks ago for LLLI conf.)... it was the second chance
I've had to show the MamaBaby to a group of people. While there, we came up
with a new use for unpadded baby slings--think it would work for most simple
unpadded slings, but I'm not sure.

There's a technique doulas use called the standing supported
squat...basically the doula stands behind mom, puts her arms under mom's
arms and supports mom while she squats. It's a great position for the mom,
but tiring for the doula. It's used for second stage, during pushing,
particularly if second stage is slow.

I was lying in my hotel room bed the first night, thinking, "Y'know, I bet
you could do most of the things people do with rebozos with a simple ring
sling..." (a rebozo is a Mexican shawl which can be used for many things,
including babywearing, as a pregnancy or postpartum bellyband, to help turn
a posterior, as a pull-cloth for pushing, et al) Then I realized that it
could go one step farther.

The next morning, we tried it. I put the sling on, loosely, around my
shoulders and had Suzanne Arms (who was at the table next to Midwifery
Today's) come over and try some squat positions with it. With one, she
simply used the sling as a "pull", just squatting while pulling on the sling
with her hands. The next one, I had her stand facing away from me, and
looped the sling around her, under her arms, tightened it up, then let her
drop into a squat. Worked great, but put a lot of pressure on her underams,
but not a lot more than a mom might experience anyway with the traditional
standing supported squat.

I found Penny Simkin later that day, and she wanted to try it out. She
suggested that instead of letting the fabric "bunch" under her arms, that
she cross her arms in the sling instead, and spread it out and let the sling
support her all along her arms rather than just in the armpits. We tried
it... fantastic! It worked great for both of us. With the sling well-spread
across my shoulders and the rings off to one side, it allowed her to do a
deep squat while I stood straight. Still not "easy", but not the backbreaker
the position is the traditional way.

Penny liked it so much she had me come to one of her classes on the last day
and show the technique. I'm still jazzed about it... I think there were 150
people at that session!

It seems like no matter where I go with the sling, we keep finding new ways
to use it.
The sling I used is available at: www.midwiferytoday.com/products/CA03S1.htm

But I suspect this would work with most simple ring slings a la Maya Wrap,
though I haven't tried it yet.

Jenrose

"Jenrose" wrote in message
snip
I found Penny Simkin later that day, and she wanted to try it out. She
suggested that instead of letting the fabric "bunch" under her arms, that
she cross her arms in the sling instead, and spread it out and let the
sling
support her all along her arms rather than just in the armpits. We tried
it... fantastic! It worked great for both of us. With the sling
well-spread
across my shoulders and the rings off to one side, it allowed her to do a
deep squat while I stood straight. Still not "easy", but not the
backbreaker
the position is the traditional way.

Penny liked it so much she had me come to one of her classes on the last
day
and show the technique. I'm still jazzed about it... I think there were
150
people at that session!

It seems like no matter where I go with the sling, we keep finding new
ways
to use it.
snip

That is neat, Jen. Thanks for sharing. My doula always carries a sling in
her birth bag to use as a pull-cloth or to put around the mom's hips when
she is on hands and knees (I forget why now?). I will tell her about this as
well. Btw, very cool about you getting to go to Penny's session!! I'm
reading the Birth Partner right now.

--
Em
edd 9/23/03
(32 weeks today!)