This week we launched Hey bb, a text message service run by real humans to answer questions about pregnancy, birth and parenthood — from how to advocate for yourself (systemic racism is real!) to explaining just what a doula does.

Pregnancy is a joyful time for many, but it's also fraught with anxiety — with worries about childbirth and how to care for a small human being. If this is you, or someone you love, LAist wants to help NAVIGATE the pregnancy, birth and postpartum phases of having a child.

If you would like to sign up for the service, text “heybb” to 73224.

​CDPH recommends that all persons, including those that are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, get vaccinated and boosted, when eligible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for all people 5 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future.

 
The guidance below is intended to answer many of the questions you may have if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, including the importance of vaccines to yourself and your child.  You can also talk to your healthcare provider to help you in your decision whether to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Click here to visit the CA Department of Public Health website. 

This document provides guidance for people who are breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic. The California Department of Public Health will update this guidance as new information becomes available.

CDPH recommends that all persons, including those that are breastfeeding, get vaccinated and boosted, when eligible.  Researchers have found that COVID-19 vaccine can be given safely to protect pregnant people and their babies. The COVID-19 vaccine may be given any time before, during or after pregnancy. Breastfeeding people may receive any of the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. For more information about vaccines available in California, visit our Get the Facts on COVID-19 Vaccines website.  

Additionally, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) agree that people with COVID-19 can breastfeed. If you get COVID-19 and are breastfeeding, take precautions to lower the risk of passing COVID-19 to your baby. COVID-19 vaccines are safe for breastfeeding people and their babies. Recent reports have shown that breastfeeding people who have received COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) have antibodies in their breastmilk, which could help protect their babies.

For more information, visit Breastfeeding and Caring for Newborns if you have COVID-19.

Click here to visit the CA Department of Public Health website. 

Published by Elly You via LAIST Magazine

Beyond Therapy And Around Barriers To Access

Kay, of Maternal Mental Health NOW, says she often refers patients to support programs outside of the healthcare system, which include home visitation programs, support groups and low-cost counseling run through non-profits.

“I know these kinds of workarounds…[and] unless someone finds me, I think they're just lost and getting bounced around from one provider to another,” Kay said. “That is a common experience for a patient or a family member to just be given a list of numbers to call them and still end up nowhere, because people don't take their insurance or they’re dead numbers.”

While access to therapy is limited, Kay says it’s also important to recognize that therapy is not “the be-all, end-all solution,” and that not everyone who experiences mental health issues needs clinical support.

“We try and think more holistically about treatment options and forms of care…a lot of times social support is all that's needed.”

Blackman found social support as a complement to therapy. In October of 2020, she helped create a virtual peer support group of Black parents who have borne children, called Black Mamas Glowing through the non-profit iDream For Racial Health Equity. She wanted the focus to be on the parent, because other groups she’d identified and had been a part of paid more attention to the child.

She also wanted to be part of a group that was accessible to other Black parents.

“It's great, because you can just be unapologetically yourself,” Blackman said. “You don’t have to be like ‘Oh I have to be a super woman or have it altogether,’ Like, no. You just gave birth to a baby. It’s OK.”

Blackman says she's since "graduated" from therapy and has developed the language to talk about anxiety and depression, and now refers other moms to the support systems she's found.

Greetings,

Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention partnered with the non-profit organization, Antelope Valley Partners for Health (AVPH), to assemble a violence prevention coalition and to collect and analyze research from the communities within the Service Planning Area 1 (SPA 1), geographically including Northern LA County. AVPH collaborated with coalition members to develop and implement five violence prevention objectives to foster safer Los Angeles communities. As part of this work, AVPH is offering a series of mini-grants. The mini-grants must be utilized to support the community action plan goals in encouraging a violence-free L.A. and in initiating post-violence healing.

Today kicks off Black Maternal Mental Health Week! And we are proud to be joining forces with mental health advocates, organizational leaders, and moms across the U.S. as we advocate for change all week! 


Created and hosted by Shades of Blue Project, this year’s #BMMHW2022 is dedicated to promoting health equity for more black birthing individual across their birth experience so we are Collectively working for greater community impact and change. Together, we can make shift happen!


Key Facts:

➤ Rates of PPD in new & expectant moms have doubled during COVID, with black moms at 2-3x higher risk but are nearly 2X less likely to receive mental health treatment.

➤ With stay-at-home orders, black moms were hit the hardest in parental duties by  spending half a day (12 hours) more on child care per week than white moms.

➤ 20 percent of women display symptoms of perinatal mood or anxiety disorder. The figure climbs to 44 percent for black women compared to white women.

➤ Black moms contend with unique challenges from the racial disparities amplified by COVID, including lack of high-quality medical care, increased stress and exposure to racial trauma, and higher risk of childbirth complications.

➤ From dismissed medical needs to birthing complications, black women are more likely to experience traumatic births and the mental health consequences that follow.

➤ Cultural barriers and a lack of representation in the mental health field continue to limit black women from seeking help. According to American Psychological Association, only 5.3% of the psychology professionals are black; and of the estimated 41,000 psychiatrists in the U.S., only 2% are black according to the American Psychiatric Association — despite making up 13% of the U.S. population. 


📢 WILL YOU DEMAND CHANGE WITH US? Urge your elected officials to support the Moms Matter Act (S. 484/H.R. 909), which addresses equity in maternal mental health — with just a few clicks!

TAKE ACTION: ow.ly/XlIi50JZExW



Learn more about this week of action at https://lnkd.in/dThHN-U

The Help Me Grow LA Community and Family Engagement Council (CFEC) is recruiting new members, with applications due August 5.  CFEC is an advisory group to Help Me Grow LA, made up of Parent Champions familiar with the experiences of children with or at risk of behavioral and developmental delays, who want to help create a more supportive and equitable early childhood system. CFEC’s role is to represent the family perspective, to help ensure that early childhood services meet the needs of families, and to ensure that families and children remain at the center of all HMG LA efforts. As thanks for sharing their time and expertise, all CFEC members will have the choice to receive gift cards or honorariums. To learn more, please read the attached FAQ or visit www.helpmegrowla.org. 

The recent shocking Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v Wade has reverberated across our AAIMM network. Not only is the decision harmful and completely lacking in compassion, it is an afront to bodily agency and stands to inequitably impact Black women/birthing persons, who experience death and dangerous complications from pregnancy and childbirth at greater rates than other groups.

Below are statements from partners and advocates in the decision: