April Roundtable Recap- Healthcare Resource Kits

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Thanks to all who joined us on Tuesday April 20th for a very productive discussion! Our topic was a continuation of our ‘Building Bridges’ series, where we look at how to make connections across industries and communities. One of the tangible goals we came up with was the creation of ‘resource kits’ for professionals who interact with baby carrier use, for example, lactation consultants, birthworkers, OBGYN, midwives, public health, chiropractors/OT/physio, etc. For this hour long discussion, we focused on birthworkers: birth and postpartum doulas.

Aim:

-brainstorm what components should be included in resource kits

-discuss the misconceptions this group runs into most often and what information they might want or need most

Our discussion generated the following points.

Kit Components should include:

-outside resources of interest to the target group housed on the BCIA site (current resources and references are here: Resources & References – Baby Carrier Industry Alliance) with a focus on self-education

-PDF resources that can be printed or shared digitally

-a ‘when to refer out’ guide and how to find an educator partner with the correct knowledge base/who is geographically well situated

-why continuing education in baby carrier use is valuable

-targeted blog content via interviews with specialists and researchers

-shareable graphics of proper carrier use/positioning

Misconceptions and Information to Include:

-legs in vs legs out

-narrow based carriers

-“hip health” in baby carriers

-using blankets and inserts in both standard and toddler size carriers

-emphasizing positioning (and re-positioning) during and after feeding

-carrier styles for newborns

-how soon can you wear after birth, especially after c-sections

-how to introduce babywearing (ie. start slow, when baby is fed, happy, walk around to start etc.)

We are looking to form a small committee to continue working on this project. If you would like to be involved, please get in touch with Linnea at director@babycarrierindustryalliance.org and we will continue our conversation as a group via email, google docs and conference call.