Birth, Babies and Beyond – Denmark

BIRTH, BABIES AND BEYOND – DENMARK Special  Theme:

Anja Bay (left) hosting one of her popular antenatal courses.

Anja Bay: ‘Giving birth can be an incredibly empowering experience’

A pain-free labour with you in full control – does that sound too good to be true? Perhaps it isn’t. According to Danish birth guru Anja Bay and the 40,000 people who followed her antenatal course Smertefri Fødsel (‘pain-free labour’), delivering your baby without artificial pain-relief and yet without uncontrollable pain is absolutely possible. Talking to Scan Magazine, the mother of three reveals some of the secrets to turning labour into a reaffirming and confidence-building experience.

By Signe Hansen | Photos: Anja Bay

When 47-year-old Anja Bay first became pregnant in 2005, she had no qualms about giving birth. As a yoga practitioner, she felt confident in her body, and after a traditional prenatal class she went into the hospital feeling happy and confident. “Then I was just completely dumbstruck by the miserable pain I went through – I was in complete agony from the very first contraction,” says Bay. Despite the pain, Bay went through the labour quickly and without complications. After the birth, the midwife noted how well everything went. Still, Bay left the hospital determined that if this was how labour was to be, she wouldn’t have more children.

A year later, however, she was pregnant with her second child – a pregnancy that

became the beginning of her quest to find and develop methods and tools to take control of the labour and reduce pain. “I’m from a generation where we’re used to practising and preparing in order to perform our best, not to just surrender and accept that we can’t control anything, so working to prepare my body for the pain and practise methods to reduce it made complete sense to me,” she says.

It has made sense to numerous other Danish women, too. Having sold 15,000 copies of her book Smertefri Fødsel and taken 40,000 women and their partners through her prenatal course, Bay is today one of Denmark’s leading voices on childbirth.

An empowering experience Working with breath and visualisations, and learning about the body’s reactions to external factors, has become among the key elements in Bay’s prenatal classes. “During my first labour, I felt like I was thrown onto a wild horse and just had to do everything I could to stay on it, clinging on. The second time, the labour was the same, maybe even more intense as it was faster, but the experience was completely different. I had this feeling that I was holding the reins, that I was in control of the pain; whether the horse was walking or galloping at full speed, I was on top of it.”

After that, says Bay, she wanted the world to know how different giving birth can be. “It’s not that I’m against pain relief. By all means, if you end up having a four-day labour, go for it! But when some feminists say, ‘it’s my right to get an epidural’, what I think is that, yes, it is, but what a shame it is to miss the experience of what your body can actually do. Going into labour prepared and with the right tools can be an incredibly empowering feeling.”

FIVE TIPS FOR A PAIN-FREE LABOUR:

The secret to taking control of the pain? In short, says Bay, it can be summarised by five key tips:

1. Breathe

Breathing techniques are your key to control. If you are aware of your breath, you will always remain present and in control. 2. Relax

Making sure that you can relax is the key to recouping energy and strength between contractions. In theory, relaxing sounds very easy, but if you don’t practise relaxation exercises, it will be impossible when your body tenses up during contractions. 3. Push and let go Learn how to control your muscles to push where the contraction is and let go at the right time. It’s important to practise because the body’s immediate reaction is to move away from the pain instead of pushing. 4. Get to know ‘your body’s pharmacy’ When you are familiar with the cocktail of hormones that your body will release during labour, you increase the chances of using that pool of natural resources to promote a spontaneous labour. 5. Manage the panic While the first four points are about the physical body, managing panic is about the mind and mental practice. One way to do it is through visualisation exercises, for instance visualising your contraction as something with a beginning and an end. Anja Bay’s book, Smertefri Fødsel, is available in book shops.

Anja Bay offers prenatal classes in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense (Denmark) and Stavanger (Norway).

Her course is offered as a standard course of five classes – four before the birth and one after – or as a compressed one-day workshop.

The course is also offered online for home study, with an e-book and a number of sound and video recordings.

In the spring of 2022, Anja Bay is launching a new postnatal course.

Web: www.smertefrifoedsel.dk Facebook: smertefrifoedsel Instagram: @smertefrifoedsel.dk

Sustainable, functional and creative

–children’s products made with passion and love

Do you want a nappy bag that can also be used as your work bag? Toys and products that help with your child’s development? Of course you do. With Manostiles, this is exactly what you get. The products are designed for everyday life with kids and can be used again and again.

By Heidi Kokborg | Photos: Manostiles

When asked what inspires her, Mette Lindeberg does not give the standard answer, like magnificent nature or grand architecture. “I am inspired by my daily walks and runs. All the animals of the forest inspire me: hedgehogs, deer, ladybugs… The trees, the sky, and the ocean. Nordic nature really shines through in my designs,” says Lindeberg, founder of Manostiles.

A mother of six children, Lindberg knows first-hand how important it is that products are multi-functional and that they can stand the test of time. “My nappy bag can also be used as a work bag. So, when you’re done using it as a nappy bag, you can use it for your laptop,” she explains. Manostiles was also the first on the market to create a baby nest that can be used until the child is 2.5 years old. You can easily unzip the baby nest and bring it from the stroller to the bed. Products that speak to the senses At Manostiles, you’ll also find a collection of children’s dining products. They are made of silicone and sort of stick to the table. Should they be dropped on the floor, there’s no need to worry; they will not break.

“This collection is made so that children can touch, taste and see the food themselves. It is crucial that children use their senses and the parents don’t take over, as that hinders children’s development,” says Lindeberg.

You’ll also find bed linen made from organic cotton that has a cooling effect, which improves sleep, and it can be washed again and again. In addition, Manostiles makes an abundance of toys that will help with the development of your child.

To avoid waste, Manostiles only produces a limited number of each item, to avoid over-production. “I work with small productions in India, and I visit the people I work with often to make sure that everything is of the highest possible quality. I want to make sure that I can vouch for every single product I sell,” Lindeberg asserts.

If you are a retailer and interested in exclusively stocking Manostiles, you can contact Mette Lindeberg directly.

Web: www.manostiles.dk Facebook: Manostiles Instagram: @manostiles

Rainwear SS2022. Rainwear and thermals SS2022.

Reste-pus i stalden: let the children play

With an emphasis on children and playfulness, this independent retailer puts customer service and high-quality products at the very centre of their business – and they make sure that everyone involved has fun in the process.

By Trine Jensen-Martin | Photos: Mikk-Line

Based in Engesvang in central Jutland, Margit and Peter Emil Sørensen sell children’s clothes and shoes with a firm focus on their main customers. They want each child to experience that they can have fun when trying on clothes and shoes, and that they can be a part of the shopping experience.

Each item has been handpicked by Margit, who cares deeply about her customers – parents as well as children. “It’s really important for us that we level with the children when they come to buy clothes or shoes from us,” she explains. “We need to get down to their actual physical level and engage with them, make eye contact.”

Margit’s husband, Peter Emil, whom she lovingly describes as “part-time breaktime clown”, is particularly adept at making those perhaps slightly more shy children they encounter feel at ease. “Often, customers will send me photos of their children wearing our clothes, and that is a wonderful feeling,” Margit says.

A focus on children and an honest, personal touch are at the heart of this business, where customer satisfaction is all-important. A large proportion of their sales now, in a post-Covid world, is via their web shop, but meeting customers remains hugely important to them. Margit and Peter Emil are often found at trade fairs to maintain the face-to-face contact with younger as well as older customers.

While fun is crucial to the identity of Restepus i stalden, there is no compromising on the excellence of the products they carry. They prioritise high-quality merchandise, and one of their most popular brands is the Danish company Mikk-Line. They continue to carry the most popular collection but regularly add new ones to keep things fresh and fun, for their customers as well as for themselves.

Margit and Peter Emil both have other jobs alongside running Reste-pus i stalden, so this is very much a labour of love, which they both continue to enjoy. “It is so important for all of us to have fun,” Margit explains in earnest. And perhaps that’s exactly why Reste-pus is so successful; they have a genuine understanding of children and their need for playtime and playfulness – and they still understand how to have fun themselves.

Wool wear.

Web: reste-pus.dk Facebook: Reste-pus i stalden Instagram: @restepusistalden

The Østerbrohandske comes in different colours. Bottom right: Tine Land designed the Østerbrohandske after becoming a mother.

Handy gloves

Pushing a pram around Copenhagen at night, once again freezing her hands after forgetting her gloves, Tine Land suddenly had an idea: what if you could make gloves that stay on the handle of the pram all the time?

By Karen Gilmour Kristensen | Photos: KongWalther

In September 2019, Land had her baby, Walther. As it got colder, Walther didn’t sleep much, and before embarking on frequent walks at night, Land struggled to always remember the dummy, the bottle – and gloves for herself. At the same time, she found it quite awkward when she had to take off her gloves, hold them, give Walther his dummy and, finally, put the gloves on again.

Drawing upon her years of experience within the clothing industry and her knowledge of quality textiles, Land designed the Østerbrohandske (‘the Østerbro glove’), named after her neighbourhood in Copenhagen.

The surfaces of the gloves are made of wind- and water-resistant materials, allowing you to leave them on the handle when parking the pram or buggy – all year round. To place the gloves on the handle, you unzip both sides of each glove. Having put the gloves on the handle, you zip up the zips to make them stay in place.

Tine Land is supported by her husband, Mathias.

“At first, I wasn’t sure if the idea was too weird,” Land admits. “But my husband loved the design, so he ordered a couple of boxes and convinced me that I should try selling them.”

A business was set up, going by the name of KongWalther (‘King Walther’), and soon enough, the orders started coming. A crucial platform for the brand is Instagram. Using her profile as a sort of diary, Land invites the followers to join “the universe of KongWalther”, as she puts it.

“My profile is quite personal,” Land says. “All photos and videos are shot by me, including a video of myself wearing the Østerbrohandske while it’s snowing. I think people are captivated by my storytelling, and that’s a feeling I recognise; if I feel drawn to someone, I’ll definitely want to support them.”

Jutlandic determination From the beginning, Land realised the importance of showing rather than telling. “When I phoned potential buyers, they didn’t understand what I was talking about,” she recalls.

That’s why she decided to meet possible customers in person to demonstrate the product. Occasionally, she would bring Walther on her arm, reinforcing the message of the housewife who started her own business.

What began as a hobby project quickly gained success as the orders kept coming. Last year, a significant number of orders were placed, and to start the production of gloves, Land and her husband had to raise the necessary funds.

After getting rejected by several banks, the couple made a radical decision. “We are Jutlanders, after all,” explains Land. “When the banks wouldn’t lend us the money, we agreed to sell our house and rent a flat instead.”

The name, Østerbrohandsken, might suggest otherwise, but Land hasn’t forgotten where she came from. “I make sure to tell people that I’m originally from Jutland,” she smiles. “In fact, I mostly ship to Aarhus, the city I grew up in.”

But KongWalther’s products are sold all over Denmark – so why name the glove after a Copenhagen neighbourhood? “Essentially, it was a way of taking the mickey out of the people living here,” Land explains. “It’s an inside joke in Copenhagen that all families with young children move to Østerbro. And it’s true; you do see a lot of prams here.”

With hindsight, Land is quite satisfied with the name. Originally intended for prams and buggies, the Østerbrohandske has proved itself useful in other contexts too. KongWalther has sold gloves for rollators, golf carts and cargo bikes. “I’m pleased I didn’t name it ‘the pram glove’,” she reflects. “It fits on pretty much anything with handles.”

Functional and sustainable All KongWalther products have been designed to make the everyday life of parents a little easier. For Land, it was important to create products that could remove at least one of the challenges that parents with young children face.

“If I have to create something, it has to be a product that is truly helpful to parents –not just another bodystocking,” Land declares. “Our society mass-produces everything. As a consumer, you can get a thousand different versions of the same item.”

Rather than participating in mass production, Land sought to create a sustainable product. “The Østerbrohandske is made from recycled polyester,” she reveals. “We use cola bottles from the oceans in our production. In this way, we can help reduce marine plastic pollution.”

Sustainability has become particularly significant to Land since becoming a mother. It’s no coincidence that KongWalther was named after her son. “Your perspective changes when you have children,” she says. “Suddenly, it’s even more important to you that the world is still spinning 20 years from now.”

Web: kongwalther.com Facebook: KongWalther Instagram: @kongwalther

The deluxe baby nest with kapok filling. Kapok is moisture-transporting, so neither dust mites, bacteria nor fungal spores can live and multiply in it. The outer fabric is made of 100 per cent organic cotton.

Filibabba: Creating a child’s universe

Made with a child’s perspective in mind, with parental experience and an acute eye for design and quality, this environmentally and socially mindful GOTS-certified company aims to engage children in the world they live in: both the physical space of their own rooms, and the materials they encounter every day.

By Trine Jensen-Martin | Photos: Filibabba

In 2015, Filibabba founders Christian Bendtsen and Lasse Rolighed Olesen introduced the baby nest to the Danish market: a pillow that lets newborns feel as safely nestled in the outside world as they did when they were inside the womb.

Since that first collection launched, the company has gone from strength to strength. They continue to design and develop baby products and children’s interiors that are sustainable, resilient and beautiful, all of them ideal items with which to frame the first few years of a child’s life. Filibabba helps to create a space where a child can grow, play and learn, making the whole room a place in which they feel at home. And everything they do, and the way they do it, is done out of a profound love and respect for the environment and the people around them.

From a child’s point of view “We create our designs from the children’s point of view, based on how they see and sense the world around them,” explains Henny Møller, brand manager at Filibabba. “But we also want the parents to enjoy our designs.” While quality is crucial for the products to endure being handled repeatedly by children, they are also beautiful to look at, too. The key for Filibabba is to create striking and durable items that children can relate to; things that inspire, soothe and entertain them, and perhaps educate them a little in the process.

Great care and consideration go into every piece they design, ensuring that they stay

The Little Sailor baby nest from the spring/summer ‘22 collection.

playful and inviting to the children, embracing the curiosity of tactile youngsters and their imagination. A child’s room is its world, and Filibabba wants to make these worlds beautiful, enduring and fun.

A more sustainable world The world is growing increasingly aware of the importance of recycling and upcycling, and creating items that are reusable is crucial to this company. “The quality and durability of our products is of great importance,” Møller says. “Our designs spring from our own experiences with young children; we create items that really do work and really do last, so you don’t have to replace them when baby number two or three comes along.”

In this way, the designs from Filibabba become a part of a child’s upbringing – not just items to be discarded and disregarded. “We want to support sustainability and enable parents to reuse our products, but we also want our creations to be multifunctional,” says Møller.

Making products that are not only reusable and will stand the test of time, but which also have more than one use, is another brilliant approach to increasing the sustainability of their products. Why buy three different items when one will do? Filibabba makes its products both sustainable and multifunctional, never compromising on quality, always placing great value on the production process.

Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) The ecological and social responsibility that lies behind the GOTS certification is crucial to Filibabba and the company’s core values, and it is a constant challenge for them to ensure that they keep the certification. The process is time-consuming, involving ongoing scrutiny of their products, the working conditions in the production line, the raw materials, and the production process.

“Many of our customers are not necessarily aware what the GOTS certification means, and they don’t always realise the high-quality products this yields as a result,” Møller reflects. “One of our challenges is to show our customers, via our products, what this means.”

To continue to receive the GOTS certificate, they must ensure that they tick all the correct boxes. They are keen to help their customers understand the value of the certification and, in doing so, are trying to do their bit to help the world become more sustainable. Being granted this certificate allows Filibabba to continue to bring to life their designs, without compromising on what they so firmly believe in.

Because they care “It is very important to us that the children feel in touch with our designs,” Møller says. The significance of recognition plays a big part in not only their designs and their products, but also in the values at the heart of Filibaba. It is far from just a business; they genuinely care about their products, the planet, and the people they work with – and, crucially, they want the customers and their children to care too.

For more information about GOTS certification, visit: global-standard.org

Web: filibabba.com/en Facebook: Filibabba Instagram: @filibabba_denmark YouTube: @Filibabba

Left: GOTS-certified, organic satin woven cotton bedlinen in the calm and beautiful Balanced Stripes print. Comes in blue mix and rose mix. Middle: GOTS-certified, organic satin woven cotton bedlinen in the beautiful Collection of Memories print. Comes in a full series with bedlinen, bed bumper, baby nest, changing mat and nursing pillow. Right: “Mum, my air balloon flies me to my dreams,” said Sonja, five years old. The iconic air balloons from Filibabba are available in a variety of colours for children’s room décor.

The natural choice for a perfect night’s sleep

Imagine drifting off to dreamland wrapped in a chemical-free and allergy-friendly duvet and soft, natural bed linen night after night. Thanks to Cocoon Company, both you and your family can do just that. Made from natural resources like kapok, merino wool and peace silk, this bedding will make your bed your new favourite place. But beware: you might develop a habit of hitting snooze that bit more before being able to drag yourself away from your new duvet…

By Heidi Kokborg | Photos: Cocoon Company

On average, we spend about 30 per cent of our lives in bed. It follows that you should be paying attention to what you and your family are sleeping in. Perhaps you are already aware of what you are putting into your body, but are you aware of the quality of your mattress, duvet, pillow and bed linen? Since you are spending almost a third of your life in direct contact with these products, you might want to start giving them a second thought. “Since we founded the company, we have witnessed a real shift in the mentality among the customers. In the beginning, our customers were the eco geeks like ourselves, but now our clients range from new mums to vegans, grandparents and young people. Today, we have ecoconscious customers everywhere from Hong Kong to California, from Greenland to New Zealand,” says Torben Dahlmann, founder of Cocoon Company. Cocoon Company is a family-owned company, whose mission is to take responsibility for our environment and help make the planet greener by producing high-quality bedding made from chemical-free, natural and organic resources, all in a sustainable way.

The green butterfly is your guarantee The name, Cocoon, comes from the idea that a small, green and eco-conscious

business transforms – just like a cocoon – into a green and sustainable butterfly. On each product, you’ll find the little green butterfly, which is your guarantee that your new bedding product is sustainable, natural, chemical-free and hypoallergenic.

“We have made a conscious decision not to pursue the more traditional certifications. We have created our own standards, which are higher than most certifications. The green butterfly is our quality stamp that symbolises our high standard of sustainability in the products we produce,” says Dahlmann. “We find it interesting, fun and challenging, to push the boundaries and keep developing. As a company and a family, we do not have the conscience to go halfway: we want to go all the way.”

Invite nature into your home The idea for Cocoon’s natural bedding products started many years ago, with two parents trying to find the perfect sleeping products for their youngest son, who tended to wake up hot and in a sweat. After trying everything from down to foam, Jane and Torben Dahlmann tried to look for alternatives to the more traditional choices, which is when they came across natural kapok fibre – a fibre that has, they found, been used for generations.

“It all started with kapok, a fibre growing as seed pods on tall trees in the wild forests. We use this natural fibre in duvets, pillows and mattresses. The kapok fibre is vegan, naturally hypoallergenic, organic and wonderful to sleep in. Kapok has so many fantastic natural qualities with regards to regulating temperature and moisture,” explains Dahlmann.

Cocoon Company is constantly pushing the boundaries for what it means to be a green and sustainable company. In recent years, they have done a major overhaul of their packaging. Since 2018, they have reduced their use of plastic by more than 80 per cent. They are solely using natural tape made from natural rubber, and 99 per cent of their cardboard boxes are recycled. They don’t use stickers; instead, they use stamps with natural colours. They even separate the rubbish and drive it to the recycling stations themselves. “Our new programme, Peace Silk, is a groundbreaking project, where the silkworm reproduces, the silk is produced in a humane way, and the silkworms can finish their life cycle and transform into silk moths,” explains Dahlmann.

Cocoon Company is committed to taking social responsibility, and all their products are safely handmade in a way that is kind to both people and the planet. Animal welfare is also at the heart of the company, which is why their Peace Silk is produced following the ideology of Ahimsa. The word ’Ahimsa’ originates from Sanskrit and means ’doing no harm against any other living things’, and it is exactly this way of thinking that is the basis for all of Cocoon’s products, which are made in a 100 per cent cruelty-free and animal-friendly way.

“We work with small productions, primarily in India. It is important to us that we have a close relationship with the people that work for us and with us, which is exactly why we visit them as often as we can,” says Dahlmann. “All our raw materials are carefully selected with the greatest care for both the Earth and everyone involved in the process.”

Web: www.cocooncompany.dk Facebook: Cocoon Company Instagram: @cocoon_company