Teaching About Birth for Families and Birth Professionals
I could talk for days about pregnancy and childbirth. The female body is magical, truly amazing and incredibly strong. As a birth worker, I always look to find new ways to teach my clients, and as a mother to 7 children, I want to incorporate child appropriate books and visuals in our home that will help my children learn about this important topic. There are so many incredible teaching aides available online, so many that it can almost get a little overwhelming.
What makes a good teaching tool? There is right answer to this. We need to take a couple different things into account:
Who are we teaching?
Where are we teaching?
What is our audiences background?
What is our goal? Do we want to create curiosity to learn more, provide in-depth information, or high level exposure and general knowledge?
Teaching tools that work for my children may or may not work for my adult audience. It is much more difficult to keep my kids engaged - they are easily distracted and have a short attention span. If I teach children I try to incorporate lots of play and not so much information. When teaching classes for adults, I can go more in-depth on content. I like to incorporate visual aids, games, fun facts and activities. Teaching about birth is fun and there are many ways we can engage our audience.
I started working as a childbirth educator about 3 years ago and have taught many classes since. Naturally, my props are stored in my office and my children like to explore and play with them. I love seeing their curious faces when they look at pelvis models, dolls, boobs and arrays of breast pumps and accessories. Birth is not a taboo in our home - I teach my children and meet them at their level. They do not have to understand the intricate details but they will receive appropriate answers to their questions. And they have lots of them! Even if I did not teach adult childbirth education classes, I would always recommend adding a book or two on the topic to your library. Having these important conversations with your children early on will help them grow confident in the process and their body’s abilities.
One of my kids’ favorite are the MamAmor dolls. These hand-crafted dolls can be used to demonstrate natural birth, Cesarean birth and breastfeeding. It is made with so much love and attention to detail. The baby comes with a placenta, cloth diaper, blanket, baby carrier and even a birth certificate. They offer so many different products and they are all wonderfully made - check out their website! I love this doll to teach adults as well because it offers so much room for demonstrations. MamAmor also offers accessories like a birthing pool and more.
My next go-to is my pelvis. I do not have a flexible one (that is next on my list) but having any pelvis is a great addition to the childbirth educator tool bag. I use it to demonstrate hip squeezes, show the birth process, explain proper sitting techniques, baby positioning, interventions and many physiological terms. You can find flexible pelvis online in Etsy shops, or you can order the delux kit on Childbirth graphics website. This kit includes the baby and a placenta and is everything you could ask for in a pelvis model. Trust me that this is a must-have for childbirth educators.
I mentioned that I like to have fun during my classes and when I interact with my children (or my client’s children). When we enjoy ourselves, we retain much more of the materials covered. I use the Birth Deck to teach comfort measures and encourage couples to actively participate in my classes. I have them draw a card and try out the comfort measure described on it. This is always a hit and we get lots of oxytocin flowing in the classroom. The doula deck is also a really great addition to your doula bag!
The Doula Deck 
Breastfeeding is another important topic covered in my classes and something curious children inquire about quite often. Seeing their baby sister or brother nurse may spark some cute or even awkward conversations (especially when they happen in public). My little ones use the crochet breast I have for teaching to nurse their baby dolls and I use them to talk about different nipple shapes and sizes, how to position your baby, flange sizing, techniques to avoid clogged ducts and mastitis,… the possibilities are endless. I try to source my props locally if possible and support military spouses whenever I can. My current set was made by a local, German shop and they are fantastic. Take a look at the “Croobs” from Annaboo’s house that offer different nipple shapes and sizes. Healthed Co also offers a cloth model that has much more detail but is also a little more pricy than the crochet version.
My next favorite tool is a c-section model that I made myself. It is made from felt that is layered and labeled to show the different layers of our body that are being cut through to get to our baby. You will need 7 layers of felt (skin, fat, abdominal muscle, fascia, peritoneum, amniotic sac, and uterus) which are glued together on one side so you can flip back the other side. This model has really come in handy without breaking the bank. It helps me visualize what it means to have a cesarean birth, and it is especially helpful for spouses and partners to understand the need for additional supports post partum.
Many educators like to use neat visuals to show dilation. There are those beautiful wooden pieces that have flowers symbolizing dilation from 1-10 centimeters. I don’t own one of those and I will tell you why. Dilation is overrated. There is a hyper-focus on how much a mother is dilated, when in reality this could change within minutes. I have a Gatorade bottle that I use to show the difference between 2 and 10 centimeters (2cm being the cap, 10 the bottom of the bottle). It is a little less expensive than the dilation visuals available on Etsy and it is something everyone can relate to. Instead of focusing on the need to dilate or even outlining a timeline for an expecting mother, I like to explain techniques to help with pain management and relaxation which ultimately lead to dilation. Still very impressive what our bodies are capable of doing and it deserves to be showcased!
This Mini Childbirth Doll is also a neat addition to any class. Couples can use this doll to re-enact the child’s movement through the pelvis. This is helpful as they learn to understand that baby is doing a lot of work and I teach them tips and tricks how positional changes can support their little one on their way into their parent’s arms.
Poster
At the end of my class, I ask couples to write down how they imagine their birth. This is not a partner exercise at all - we want to see if their ideas and wishes are aligned or not. This exercise is meant to facilitate conversations between the parents so that they can exchange their wishes and needs. Couples can draw or write, any way to get their thoughts out of their heads and onto a piece of paper. This is a wonderful exercise that I adopted from one of my trainers and mentors and that has proven to be valuable to my participants.
The last thing I want to talk about is teaching comfort measures. I bring birthing balls and peanut balls to my in-person classes to show different techniques and positions. I also like to bring other tools like massagers, heating pads, rice socks and several oils and balms that couples can try out and use during the class. Here are a couple examples of items that are typically in my doula bag but have found lots of use during my classes as well as in our family. My kids love the massagers and my husband uses the heating pads frequently after a long workout. There is no limit to what you can use these items for and how you can incorporate them in your classes or day to day life.
Massage tool 
Peanut Ball 
