Blog
Birth plan
Preferences to talk through with your care team.
A birth plan is a list of preferences; you decide together by talking with your care team. Options are in no order of preference. You decide together with your care team.
Birth environment
- Dim lighting
- My own music
- A room as quiet as possible
- Being able to move / change position during labour
- Using a birth ball or shower (if the hospital offers it)
- Wearing my own clothes
- Limiting who can be in the room
Pain management preferences
- Breathing techniques
- Massage and touch
- Heat or cold packs
- Epidural
- Being informed about medication options
- Not being offered options unless I ask
- Deciding as things unfold
Birth companion
- My partner
- My mother / a family member
- A friend
- A doula
- I don't want a companion
- My companion with me during a caesarean, if possible
The moment of birth
- Pushing in a position I choose
- A mirror to see the baby's head
- Touching the baby's head
- My partner cutting the cord
- Delayed cord clamping (as the team considers appropriate)
- Photos / video (per hospital rules)
- Coached pushing, or pushing as I feel
After the baby is born
- Immediate skin-to-skin contact
- Skin-to-skin with my partner if needed
- Postponing routine procedures in the first hour if possible
- Rooming-in with my baby
- Being told about each procedure done for the baby
- Delaying the first bath
Feeding preference
- Breastfeeding / breast milk
- Formula feeding
- Combination feeding
- Support from a lactation consultant
- Being asked before anything is given to the baby
- I haven't decided yet
If a caesarean is needed
- Being told step by step what is happening
- Seeing the baby born (clear drape / lowered drape)
- Skin-to-skin in the operating room, if possible
- Music in the operating room
- The baby staying with my partner
- Being awake with regional anaesthesia if possible
Special notes
- My preferred language for communication
- Faith / cultural preferences (e.g. call to prayer for the baby)
- Health history I'd like the team to know
- My worries and what helps me
- My dietary needs
The little one is waiting for you.
Download DUGIYAN and read your baby's first note.
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