Mother to Mother Services

08/08/2023

🥰

08/04/2023

❤️❤️

Kissing your baby changes your breast milk. Did you know that the undeniable urge to cover your baby in kisses serves a biological purpose? When a mother kisses her baby, she samples the pathogens on baby’s face, which then travel to mom’s lymphatic system. Mom’s body then creates antibodies to fight those pathogens, which baby receives through breast milk. What?! Amazing, right?

💫 Words by
💫 📸: Dusktildawnphotography

08/01/2023

“The fewer toys kids have, the more they play. “

We're lead to be believe that if a little is good, then more is better. But, the irony is when it comes to toys, the fewer kids have the more they play.

08/01/2023

As new parents we’re eternally stretched to new limits we didn’t know existed, and then we’re stretched a little more.

New motherhood is so challenging but its ok to trust your instincts. Here's five ways science proves it.

08/01/2023

Happy world breastfeeding week.

World Breastfeeding Week starts today! Women shouldn’t require superpowers to juggle breastfeeding and work.

All moms everywhere, no matter their work or contract type, should have:
🧸 At least 18 weeks, preferably 6 months or more, of paid maternity leave
🧸 Paid time off for breastfeeding or expressing milk upon returning to work
🧸 Flexible return-to-work options

Let’s make breastfeeding and work, work!

08/01/2023

When hungry, your baby 👶🏽 will tell you. Watch out for these signs.

07/26/2023

Think about this !

❤❤❤

07/26/2023

10 Things Everyone Should Know About Babies, newborn, postpartum, infant health, how to care for your baby, how to care for a newborn, infant health

07/24/2023

Nick has been training and is planning to run the TCS NYC marathon this November for Rise Against Hunger. Would you consider sponsoring and help fight world hunger?

Exciting news! I'm running the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon as a member of Team Rise & Stride, supporting non-profit organization Rise Against Hunger's mission to eliminate hunger around the globe. My race will help provide nutritious school meals and community empowerment in the regi...

07/24/2023

Truth. No one is perfect. Stop posting your perfect life. It’s putting way to much pressure on many new parents out there thinking they are not cutting it.
Parenting/ mothering is tough. Being in a community where we can all support, help, and encourage is important.
Get out and find your tribe. You will be happy you did.

07/24/2023

07/24/2023

❤️❤️

New motherhood is so challenging but its ok to trust your instincts. Here's five ways science proves it.

07/21/2023

❤️

https://brainpowerboy.com/children-are-poem/

07/19/2023

Amazing

A research team at the Yale School of Medicine, found that human milk contains a sugar molecule, called myo-inositol, that was present in every sample of milk they tested. myo-inositol appears to boost neuronal synapse abundance and enhances neuronal connectivity. It is a brain builder. It also appears to be dose-dependant, meaning that the more human milk, the more brain building activity. So keep on keeping on, feed human babies human milk! Check it out here: Paquette, A. F., Carbone, B. E., Vogel, S., Israel, E., Maria, S. D., Patil, N. P., ... & Biederer, T. (2023). The human milk component myo-inositol promotes neuronal connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(30), e2221413120. -parenting

07/06/2023

So beautiful 😍

My Child,⁣⁣

You are my today, my tomorrow, and all the tomorrows after.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
You are the air I breathe,⁣⁣
the light at the end of every dark tunnel,⁣⁣
the rainbow after a torrential rainstorm with thunder and lightning,⁣⁣
and the beautiful melody in all the songs I listen to.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
You are my motivation to swim against the waves,⁣⁣
my strong foundation even when I’m feeling weak and at risk of toppling over,⁣⁣
and my shining star in a dark universe.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
My unconditional love for you,⁣⁣
is one that pulls me out of bed on the hard mornings,⁣⁣
where the tired makes my bones ache,⁣⁣
and my brain is so foggy I can hardly think straight.⁣⁣
⁣
It’s a love that’s so comfortable it rocks me to sleep at night⁣⁣
even after a day filled with overthinking every interaction,⁣⁣
of feeling overwhelmed by an inbox of unread emails and dirty laundry⁣,⁣
and falling short,⁣⁣
again and again.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
I have never felt anything like it before. ⁣⁣
I can be depleted of everything,⁣⁣
but never of my all-encompassing love for you.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Because when I dig deep, I will always find more to give.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
So, I hope you feel loved every day of your life knowing ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
you’re someone’s today,⁣⁣
tomorrow, and all the tomorrows after.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
⁣✍️:
📷: Unknown Artist

06/22/2023

Traveling with a baby shouldn’t be daunting. Here are a few helpful things to consider

Planes, trains & automobiles. Traveling with infants and toddlers can be challenging. If you are flying, try to plan to offer the breast (or a bottle) at take-off and landing. When babies are eating they are swallowing which can help with ear popping.
Taking a train or driving a long distance? Have plenty of toys on hand, bottles if you can’t stop to feed the baby frequently, and a car charger for your pump if you will need to pump.
Do you have any travel tips you could share with other families?

06/18/2023

“You grew a human from scratch. 
You birthed them with strength. 
You nourished them with love. 
Your body is incredible. 
Don’t let anyone take that away from you.” 
 
 
📷:

06/16/2023

They are so little for a short time. Enjoy having them close and attached. I promise you’ll be sad when they don’t want you anymore.

A baby who is very attached to their mother is not a sign of a problem, it's a sign of a well established bond of love. ❣️😘🤗

06/04/2023

Rise and shine. It’s a beautiful day to teach my Homebirth/birth center childbirth class. I think I’ll teach outside on my back deck. Have a great day everyone.

05/03/2023

😍😍😍

05/03/2023

Truth!

04/28/2023

Because dads aren’t extra help. They aren’t live-in babysitters. They’re parents—just like us moms.

04/28/2023

Oxytocin is also known as the ‘Love hormone, a cuddle chemical’. It is also often referred to as the 'trust hormone'.
Labour is a different state of being, a state of being with a lot of similarities to sleep. For a start, they are both states that cannot be forced. They just happen! Sometimes when we least expect it. We cannot decide or control the moment when we fall asleep. We can also not decide or control the moment when we “fall into labour.” But we can make it difficult for both to happen easily and most effectively.
Labour is like sleep because we need the same conditions to “fall into labour” as we need to “fall asleep.” We need to feel safe and warm and relaxed. We need to be in a place in which we feel comfortable, and we need to be free from pressure, anxiety or fear. What does it do.
It creates Hormones ’Braxton Hicks’ Strengthens the uterus, maintains pregnancy, stimulating blood flow from the placenta to the baby.
It Creates - Frequent uterine contractions during labour, signals are sent to the brain to produce more, more effectively and so on. This production will continue throughout labour.
It creates - Fetal ejection reflex
It creates - Placenta ejection reflex
It vreates - Milk ejection / let down reflex
Isn't it amazing 💓

03/28/2023

Mother to Mother Services has had the honor of holding and loving many many babies over the last 26 years. Last week our family received the gift of a grandchild. Holding him in my arms is the best feeling around.
I would like to Welcome Jameson Bennett DIMare. He entered our world on 3/23/23 weighing 8 lbs 8 oz. and was 20 inches in length. This is the best feeling ever. So Blessed.😇 Happy World Doula Week.

03/23/2023

Happy World Doula Week. 26 years going strong educating,supporting,empowering the next generation of birthing women.

03/22/2023

26 glorious years educating, advocating and caring. My journey began in 1997 supporting birthing families in NJ. Happy World Doula Week to all my Doula sisters out there.

03/05/2023

A lot of learning took place today in preparation for their upcoming Home births next month. Along with learning all about labor, they enjoyed learning and practicing massage,counter pressure and acupressure points. The afternoon session was focused on the importance of creating space in the pelvis through movement and how the simplest change in position can allow the baby to descend further down through the pelvis. These were just a few of the many things that took place today. By the end of the day they left feeling well prepared and ready to meeting their baby.

03/03/2023

“The skill of being with women in pain in labour often rests in believing in women when they do not believe in themselves.”
– Nicky Leaf

Quite often I encounter a birthing mama who feels as though she can't endure the pain of labor. My work as a doula or the work of any support person is to encourage, encourage, encourage.

“The skill of being with women in pain in labour often rests in believing in women when they do not believe in themselves.”
– Nicky Leaf

This is one of the most significant skills anyone supporting a Mother in labor can hold. The very "skill" of riding the waves with a laboring woman while leaving her undisturbed is the best way to help her through. A well versed doula or midwife can simply observe a laboring woman, the way she moves her body, the sounds she makes, and fully understand her progress in labor without ever touching her or speaking to her.

© Spot of Serendipity | Birth

02/20/2023

So raw, so real, so powerful and true.

During the early stages, as we drifted in + out of sleep, you were my blanket of comfort as you subconsciously squeezed my hand through each passing contraction.

as i labored in the tub, i’d peel my eyes open when the pain would subside, and i’d see yours — full of encouragement + amazement — staring back at mine.

as things progressed + the waves intensified, the words “i can’t do this anymore” crept their way out into our sacred space. you consistently combatted my fears with reassuring reminders of my inner strength + power.

with each + every push, as screams poured from my lungs and pain ripped through my body, dozens of your soft kisses on my forehead brought me back down to earth...

and then she was here.

we did it — together.
my partner,
my teammate,
in love, labor + life.
✨☁️


.shocks

02/19/2023

What a great day it was having these two wonderful couples in my class. Lots of learning took place so I was not able to take many pictures. The girls did a great job during the ice exercise. After Nick thought it would be cool trying it himself. Josh decided to join him. Well all I can say is the girls and Josh did great. Nick, well not so much. He felt very uncomfortable while holding the ice in his hands. Complained how the pain radiates up his arm. Yep this proves that women are the stronger s*x.

02/17/2023

Getting ready to teach my class tomorrow. So excited for the couples who are attending especially this couple here. There is nothing better than having my kids take my class. It’s getting real people!!!! Can’t wait to meet my grandson!

02/13/2023

Just love her !

Especially in the first few days home, don't even try.
She probably doesn't even feel that she is making sense.
She doesn't need to.
She just made a whole human INSIDE HER BODY!!!!
She may have just pushed out a tiny human that looks like you...or maybe like your dad. :)
Or perhaps she had MAJOR ABDOMINAL SURGERY that she is trying to recover from.
And did you know her hormones have completely flipped?
Nothing she had going strong in pregnancy is even being made in her body right now.
And then her breasts are doing new things.
BIG things.
So don't ask her what is wrong.

She DOESN'T KNOW.

Just love her.
It won't last forever.
Offer her helpful things, but don't try to fix it.
You can't anyway.

02/09/2023

❤️

One mom writes about how she found "the man I married", the best father to her children, and all of the reasons he's given her since then that confirm she's made the right choice. Category : Marriage & Partnerships, Motherly Stories

02/08/2023

More and more dads today are spending more time with the kids.

Millennial dads spend more time with their kids, a 2017 study shows. However, societal dads for parents need to change at the workplace, too. Category : Parenting

02/08/2023

True.

"Rage bubbles here in the nursery, curtains drawn, white noise blasting in my ears, after 5 failed attempts at putting my baby down. Still in my pjs, unbrushed hair and teeth. I realise I’m still wearing my pad from last night. I feel gross. I’m thirsty. I’m tired. It was a crap night. I’m resentful. The fires gone out in the lounge, it’ll be freezing when I finally get out of this dark room. I notice my internal dialogue. Moody and angry. My toe taps the floor, jigging the baby back to sleep.

The invisible, important, work of motherhood that isn’t really discussed. Hours spent rocking and shushing and feeding and forgetting simple self care like changing your sanitary pad.

Sometimes I really love these moments. When I’m forced to slow down, to sit. To watch my baby sleep in my arms. I soak deep into that privileged spot in my chair, the outline I’ve carved from the hours sitting here. And I truly do saviour it.

Then other days I stew and mentally write lists of all the things I’m not doing. I resent my husband at work or the gym talking to other adults while I sit stranded under a sleeping baby scrolling the internet in discontent.

The mismatch of my emotions is strong. My heart beating against his tiny chest, please stop growing it says. My foot beating the floor with an energy of disaffection saying gritted, but also please sleep in your bed so I can get things done.

The things always seem to wait though.

Time passes regardless. We’re still here, in this chair. I’m dreaming of a cup of tea and a shower knowing full well one day I’ll forget this quiet rage and yearn for the sweet moments of a baby asleep on my chest.

I put down my phone, leave the internet and stare at my babe. Yes those things can wait."

📸:

02/06/2023

We have all been there. Don’t beat yourself up for having a bad day. It always gets better.

You're always a good mom. 💜

01/27/2023

❤️

No such thing as too much love 💙

01/26/2023

Wow !!!

01/26/2023

This is so beautiful 🥰