Research and resources for perinatal professionals.
June 22, 2023 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
June is PRIDE Month, a time to commemorate and center LGBTQIA+ individuals and recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, nonbinary, and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. The desire to have a family is universal amongst all people. As childbirth educators, our role goes beyond simply imparting knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth and recognizes our responsibility to create an inclusive and supportive environment for all families, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+. By acknowledging and celebrating the diversity within our classes, childbirth educators can ensure that every individual and every family is seen, respected, and welcomed during this transformative journey. This is a great time to check in with class content and curriculum to confirm that your childbirth classes are welcoming to LGBTQIA+ families in your community. Here are five practical ways to create an inclusive space. To find all the posts in the "Welcoming All Families" series, click here.
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August 10, 2022 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
It is important that all families feel welcome in your childbirth classes. Here are ten things you should be doing to confirm that you and your classroom are welcoming and safe for LGTBQIA+ families. It is imperative that you do not make any assumptions about the people who are attending childbirth classes with you. This post is one in an occasional series, "Welcoming All Families," you can find the entire series here.
June 01, 2022 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Pride Month is recognized in the United States annually in June. Pride Month was established to honor the Stonewall Riots that took place in June, 1969 in New York City. The Stonewall Riots were a catalyst for people to organize, for the first time in 1970 on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, to protect and honor the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer plus (LGBTQ+) community in the USA and globally.
September 16, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
September 15th through October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States. The purpose of National Hispanic Heritage Month is to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans.
Hispanics (or Latinos - read more about these terms here) currently make up nearly 20 percent of the population in the United States and this number is projected to grow significantly in the next 20 years. It is important to have perinatal resources and information available for the Hispanic families in your classes who would prefer to use Spanish language materials.
Here are some resources that educators and others can share with Hispanic families in their classes and access for themselves if they teach in Spanish. Lamaze International has many Spanish speaking educators and there are several Latino Lamaze programs that train educators in Spanish.
June 22, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
In the United States and around the globe, June is PRIDE Month, a time to recognize, center and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and their families. (Not sure what all those initials stand for, check out this handy reference guide.) The New York Times ran an article earlier this month that was applicable to childbirth educators, perinatal professionals and health care providers who work with birthing and postpartum people during the childbearing year.
Some L.G.B.T.Q. Parents Reject the Names ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy’” addresses the importance of families having their parenting roles and corresponding names for those roles recognized and respected. Families in 2021 are diverse and not everyone identifies as a mother or father.
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.
June 17, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
The United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) has created an online resource page for LGBTQIA+ families and the perinatal professionals that support them. The USBC page includes valuable information and links to resources available through other organizations such as Le Leche League International, Kellymom.com and more. Feeding babies human milk is just as important to LGBTQIA+ families as it is for heterosexual, cisnormative families and perinatal professionals should be sure to have resources at hand to assist families in their breast/chestfeeding journeys.
August 13, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
As childbirth educators, we know that we are likely to have a diverse group of families in our classes. The materials we use to teach with and the images on our websites and in our marketing materials should be just as varied as the people who take our classes. Today is another post in the occasional series on Welcoming all Families, Connecting the Dots talk about sources for images that represent people of size. Pam Vireday has written before here and here on this blog about welcoming people of size in our classrooms and today’s post is a nice compliment to that.
March 12, 2019 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
As an educator, you can help blind and visually impaired parents to build confidence and feel prepared for welcoming their baby. Listen to their needs and treat them like any other parent coming through your classes. Here are some tips on how to do so.
November 13, 2018 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
As childbirth educators and birth professionals, we can do a small but important part to make all of the people in our classes feel comfortable and welcome. Using gender-neutral language is something we can do to welcome gender-diverse people.
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