Patricia Grisafi
TikTok is used for all kinds of silliness, but healthcare professionals are also taking advantage of the platform to share information.
Recently there’s been a trend on TikTok where healthcare workers share videos showing how babies are delivered as well as other medical care people in labor and post-labor need.
These videos show simulated labor using dummies that are definitely not like the dummies you probably had to practice CPR on in high school gym class.
They also show other labor-related injuries, such as tearing, and how to stitch that up.
Buzzfeed spoke to a delivery/postpartum/nursery nurse Ione Lennox-Hottle about the TikTok trend and the dummies. Lennox-Hottle has had several behind-the-scenes childbirth videos go viral, and she explained that staff and students use the dolls to practice responding to emergencies such as postpartum hemorrhage.
Also, a lot of folks don’t know you have to birth the placenta after you birth the baby! You think you’re done when the baby comes out? Nope, you have this purple blob that needs to come out, too.
There are also baby dummies for the medical professionals to practice with: “We also have the baby dummies for neonatal resuscitation practice. It’s sad but it happens, and we want to be educated and ready to make the best outcome,” she said.
There’s one thing the dolls can’t account for, though: the mess that is labor and delivery.
“I’ve noticed most of my commenters have no idea about where babies come from, or more so how they come out,” explained Ione.
“If people are freaked out by this super clean, smooth delivery with our doll, then they do not want to be in a real delivery room when it’s really going down,” she said.
Featured Image: TikTok
