Supporting vulnerable Families

On the 12th June I attended a study day in Gore which involved a presentation from  Dr Kay Mckenzie from the 1000 day trust. This is a trust which is about vulnerable families with early parenting. It is an initiative which has received some funding to run as a pilot to see if it does make a difference. It is an important initiative for vulnerable Southland families and Kay is helping to make southern midwives aware of it so they can identify signs of parents who are struggling or not bonding with their babies and refer them on. This video is about the 1000 day trust.

Kay presented a video which demonstrates how an infant reacts to an attentive parent and also when the parent  ignores the child. It is pretty powerful, here it is. 

What initiatives are there in your area to support vulnerable families?

A lovely, family centred, home waterbirth

Model pelvis

I have found this great wee paper model pelvis which could be a wonderful resource for midwifery students. I am posting the link here http://weishinlai.tripod.com/pelvis/

There is also a good wee model (and a bit simpler) in the Hesperian Book for Midwives on page 448 and 449. The chapter on homemade tools will download if you click this link http://hesperian.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/en_midw_2013/en_midw_2013_25.pdf . It is a book written for midwifery students in developing countries who may not have limited access to resources.

This is another resource for students to build clay model pelvis. It may be useful but seems to require some precast pieces. http://www.iuga2013.com/handouts/docs/handout24_parta.pdf