Baby fever swept through the Machine Shop on Sunday as around 1,000 moms and others attended the Bumps, Babies, and Beyond “baby expo”.
More than 70, mostly local, businesses, organizations, and independent sellers came together to promote their child and maternity-related goods and services, some that are quite unique and perhaps unknown to people in the Sault area.
A 10-month-old local business, Sault Doulas, attended to promote its labor and delivery assistance ‘doula’ business.
“A lot of people have not heard of doulas. We basically offer support for people during pregnancy. We are sometimes confused with midwives but we don’t do any clinical work. Even if the husband needs a break we can come in and help,” said Alexandra Boyd, one of the business owners.
Boyd said as far as she is aware Sault Doulas is the only certified doulas service in Sault Ste. Marie.
The business had a collection jar at the event as it is currently trying to raise $1,100 for the purchase of pregnancy ‘squatting bars’ for Sault Area Hospital and anyone who wants to donate to this should connect with them via Facebook.
Rhiannon Sundquist of Twisting Roots Homestead sold locally sourced and naturally produced creams, rubs, balms, and powders the main ingredients of which she grows and forages in Searchmont, where she lives.
The business offers a variety of products such as her all-natural diaper rub or yarrow-based ‘fever tea’ which she said effectively opens pores and works better than Tylenol to lower a baby’s fever.
Jaime Brideau of Wild Mama’s Kitchen was there to promote herself as a ‘holistic nutritionist’ who offers health consultations, eating plans, healthy cooking classes, and more.
Although she can assist anyone with a better diet, Brideau strongly caters to pre- and postnatal nutrition.
“The main two things that I usually tell people in general, but especially for new moms, is first of all trust your intuition and, secondly, eat foods as close to the way they naturally grow as possible and you can’t go wrong,” she said.
The You Are Not Alone Project for Postpartum Anxiety & Mood Disorder Wellness & Awareness (they refer to it as YANA for short) promoted their advocacy and support services for those with post-partum mental health issues.
The group said that not only 1 in 5 mothers suffer from a post partum anxiety or mood disorders but also 1 in 10 dads, 1 in 4 adopted parents, and 1 in 2 teen moms.
Simone Mitchell from Matka Global Collective sold fair-trade colourful Moroccan-imported leather ‘poufs’ that can be used as ottomans or toddler seats.
Mitchell sources her product from a Berber tribe that live in the mountains of Morocco who she met when she was travelling in that region two years ago.
Ten per cent of the business’ sales go the “community development and education” of the Berber communities.
Tori Harris has been an extra-organized person since she was a little girl and on Sunday she was out promoting her ‘professional organization’ services with her business Streamline.
Harris first does an in depth study of the habits and lives of her clients before helping them organize their businesses, homes, or any other aspect of their lives.
Harris said those going through a pregnancy can benefit form her services.
“When you have some sort of life change, like a pregnancy, sometimes that can throw your whole life out of whack and even if you start out as an organized person you might end up disorganized and a professional organizer can help you get back on track,” she said.
The Group Health Centre’ Physiotherapy department promoted awareness about pelvic health issues.
GHC representatives said complications with the pelvic floor muscle group are a major reason 1 in 3 woman have urine incontinence and, after birth, 1 in 10 woman have fecal incontinence.
Anyone with those types of issues may want to consult them they said.
Pregnant-belly painting and photograph sessions were provided by Perfectly Painted and RAD.imagery.