Birth preparation course. / © Initiativ Liewensufank
From birth preparation to baby massages, the non-profit continues to offer extensive support to parents through consultations, courses, and more.
The non-profit organisation 'Initiativ Liewensufank' ('Beginning of life initiative') recognises the importance of empowering parents to have a voice. By informing parents and equipping them with practical skills and knowledge, parents can feel more competent during the infancy of their parenting journey. Comprehensive advice and practical support is offered via consultations, courses, activities, a helpline and more.
Family Matters met with Maria Eudier, Managing Director, and Yasmine Banzer-Schmit, Communications Manager, as the 'Initiativ Liewensufank' approaches its 40th year. The motivation behind the non-profit was to offer a holistic approach to supporting parents with pregnancy and childbirth.
“A group of midwives and parents wanted to improve the circumstances and conditions around giving birth in Luxembourg. They identified a need for a more holistic approach. We want parents to feel totally prepared and empowered,” says Maria.
All exercise educators and employees at the non-profit are trained in the specific aspects for the various fields of work. Indeed, everything is facilitated by a multidisciplinary team of midwives, pediatric nurses, educators, lactation and breastfeeding consultants.
Aims of the 'Initiativ Liewensufank'
“Everything we do revolves around support,” Maria explains.
- Holistic pregnancy support, taking into account medical, psychological and social aspects
- People-centered obstetric care, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization
- Right to self-determination at birth
- Loving reception of the newborn
- Supporting mother-child bonding and father-child bonding
- Promoting active fatherhood from the start
- Protect, promote and support breastfeeding in accordance with WHO and UNICEF recommendations
- Supporting parenting skills to ensure optimal emotional, intellectual and physical development of children
- Raising awareness of environmental issues to protect both the health of families and the planet for future generations
- Equal opportunities between partners in the area of combining family and work for parents (prenatal classes – child birth and hypnobirthing), babies (baby massage) and small children (in German and in Luxembourgish).
Maria and Yasmine suggest that decisions around childbirth in Luxembourg are not always fully aligned with the best interests of the parent (s). She suggested people are inclined to put complete trust in medical professionals in making appropriate decisions.
“Often decisions around pregnancy and birth lean more heavily towards medical convenience. Doctors and medical professionals may wear a white coat, but they are not always right!”, Maria says.
She explains further: “It's so important for parents to always feel they have a choice. It’s not always promoted or explained to parents that they have choices."
When decisions are made more for medical convenience, parents have to live with any potential consequences and that these are not always fully explained and parents can be ill-prepared. She cited the proposal of a non-medically necessary c-section as an example.
"It's a serious operation with various implications and potential consequences. Parents must know that dependent upon the circumstances, they do not always have to go along with this."
Maria feels this can pose particular difficulty for anxious parents or those who do not have the necessary knowledge and will feel less inclined to stand up for what they want. Maria and Yasmine speak about the importance of focusing on the individual, to advocate for birth rights and empower parents to take ownership of their own parenting journey.
Support and services offered
Parents can access consultations to address a specific problem they may be facing or attend a course such as birth preparation, breastfeeding, child first aid, a music class for small children or a parenting circle and more.
“We cover everything from the physical changes to the body while pregnant to the whole birth process and beyond. The birth prep courses really prepare people for birth, not just 'what happens in hospital' but the whole process, post birth too," Maria says.
In Luxembourg, parents are offered five to eight home visits for their newborns.
'Initiativ Liewensufank' offers Doula services and appointments one or two months after birth, typically following scheduled midwife visits.The Doula support provided does not include accompanying childbirth but focuses on assisting parents before and after birth, until the baby is six months old. After this period, parents can access personal consultations.
“The first course we ever offered was the birth preparation course, it remains to be our most popular course. We now offer consultations about babywearing, cloth nappies as well as personal consultations to address a need or problem. We offer workshops such as 'Daddies to be' and courses to help introduce solids, child first aid, and more," says Yasmine.
© Initiativ Liewensufank
See their website here for a full list of courses and consultations which includes;
BabyPlus is a free service offered to families either expecting a baby or have just given birth and who live in the affiliated municipalities in Luxembourg. Check with the local authority or on the initiative website for commune eligibility and assigned contact number. The service offers free information, professional advice and support from pregnancy through to the first year of the child's life. Appointments can be arranged in your own home or in a consultation room in a local town hall. The team is made up of empathetic and experienced perinatal consultations who are multilingual.
BabyWelcome was created in 2017 and provides support for pregnant women and women who have given birth, who are seeking international protection (IPR) or who have refugee status. The aim of this service is to offer the target audience parental support around the birth of a child with a long term goal of integrating the IPR and refugee families (more information is available on their website under consultations). Initiativ Liewensufank visit refugee support centres and check if there is a need for equipment, donations or clothes.
FabyPlus is a service in cooperation with the Luxembourg Youth Welfare Office (ONE) for pregnant women and minors and or families with babies in difficult situations. It is a more complicated service for parents who need significant help for which the initiative works closely with social workers and other organisations who may be linked in to helping the family.
Baby Hotline (+352 36 05 98) offers free advice to all. It is only available from 9am to 11.30am Mon-Fri and operates different time schedules during school holidays. At other times you can leave an answering machine message or write an email and they will call back as soon as possible.
For parent and child activities, options include baby massage, PEKiP and Pikler courses, Musikkinder and Mama Yoga. The 'Mobile' course is a continuation from PEKip where parents can bring their child for active play and involvement in their childs' development.
They also have an expert on the subject of tongue-tie.
For breastfeeding support the non-profit have DAIS and EISL certified consultants. There is no need to have a medical prescription for this and ongoing support is available as required. It is an additional support alongside midwifery consultations or after the midwife prescription ends. 'Initiativ Liewensufank' produced a breastfeeding manual with co-financing from the Ministry of Family which is available in English, German, French, Luxembourgish and Portugese.
The hypnobirthing courses afford parents the opportunity to meet each other, link with other specialists and organisations in Luxembourg offering more support.
There is a 'fathers circle' which is led by a male psychologist.
"At our parenting circles, parents can freely discuss things in a totally private space – even I am not aware of what is discussed there!" Maria explains.
© Initiativ Liewensufank
According to Yasmine, the "pre-school age sessions are not simply playgroups where parents come to have coffee. We aim to support, educate and impart useful information, there is a purpose and benefit to everything we do”.
The non-profit also offers support for parents who have lost their child during pregnancy, during or shortly after birth and also for those who have been affected by a traumatic birth.
Yasmine explained that pre-birth courses recommended by obstetricians and other medical professionals are mostly ‘in-house’ at hospitals and delivered by midwives.
She highlighted there are differences between medical professionals in their approach and recommendations to pregnancy and birth.
The premises in Itzig offers a welcoming safe space where parents can participate in courses, access support, seek advice and, in turn, bring their children.
There are two large rooms upstairs providing ample space for groups and courses as well as a Documentation Center with specialist magazines and scientific studies on the subject areas of 'Initiativ Liewensufank'.
To note, the parents magazine "Baby Info" with expert insights is no longer being published, although previous publications are still available.
Languages
The majority of services are facilitated in Luxembourgish and German. The website is mainly in German and French but they intend to make further developments in English provision. Support offered in English includes preparation for birth, hypnobirthing, baby weaning/introducing solids, support with child loss and breastfeeding courses.
They previously offered yoga classes in English, however, the facilitator has since moved on and they hope to have someone new soon. To run courses, staff gauge demand and in turn determine the size of the group appropriate to the topic. Yasmine iterated there is not enough demand for English speaking courses.
“Courses in English are undersubscribed with less demand. English speakers mostly come here from abroad and perhaps do not know about us and what we do." Yasmine
Do parents often stay with you through the process after embarking on a birth preparation course?
“Absolutely. Parents usually have a really positive experience with us and continue using other services and benefit from those, too," Yasmine explains.
She continues: “We're now in the 2nd generation of delivery; grandparents who came through our services are now seeing their own 'adult children' and grandchildren benefit."
© Initiativ Liewensufank
She also made reference to multi-generational input and involvement, when grandparents bring their grandchildren to the Mobile children's group, for example.
A previous service user herself, Yasmine was so impressed by the pre-birth class she attended in preparation for the birth of her own child, she now works for the initiative in Communications.
Can service cost be a barrier?
For services such as advice BabyPlus, the cost of the consultation is taken care of by the commune and is therefore free to use. If a parent can't afford consultations or courses, or there is particular need for materials or clothes for the baby, staff can use their discretion to potentially fund this depending upon the circumstances.
"We had a family who couldn't pay medical bills for their child and we helped, given the consequences if these bills were not paid, it was justified. We offer uncomplicated, un-bureaucratic help!" Maria says.
She explains they are currently in discussion with the Ministry to lower fees, if possible.
"There may be less expensive course options for parents elsewhere, we could not comment on those, but our courses are very in-depth and our staff are very well trained."
Do you face challenges in delivering services?
“We don’t have the resources we need to do everything as well as we would like to,” Maria says.
Maria and Yasmine explain they operate a tight budget of funds to allocate across five departments. Through the ministry, their salary structure is covered, however the core system is not. They explained further that staff training can take a large chunk of funding resources but the initiative is committed to ensuring staff are competent.
“It’s so important staff are properly trained. We’re committed to training costs as we want to make sure staff can deliver services to a high standard," Maria says.
“The majority of our staff are part time, mainly due to their own family commitments, which means we face a further challenge of having limited time available to train staff who already work part time but we are committed."
Item donations are always welcome but storage facilities are very small, meaning that the initiative asks for what they need, usually via their Facebook page and Instagram and they encourage people to check these.
They discourage items being dropped off at their locations, if they are for refugee support, for example. As Yasmine iterates, it is a problem across Luxembourg that donations are not always suitable, may not be fit for purpose and need to be disposed of.
Operating costs are partly financed through an agreement with the Ministry of Family Affairs, the Ministry of Education and various municipalities and partly through the association's own resources which includes member contributions, course fees, income from consultations, subsidies and donations.
'Initiativ Liewensufank' is recognised as a non-profit organization. Monetary donations are welcome, which can be made online, and are tax deductible.