As a family and community health nurse living in Brazil, Milia Simielli was able to nurture her passion for working with pregnant women and children for years. It wasn't until she became a childbirth doula and educator — and bought her now beloved sewing machine — that Simielli's passion for helping women and children reached a whole new level. Now she's also the proud owner of an Etsy shop that sells her handmade creations: educational dolls and other sustainable items that educate about the birth process and are individually "made with love."
Simielli tells CafeMom that she began making baby shoes in 2013 to give to her pregnant patients.
"I always enjoyed being a nurse, however, after listening to so many stories of women that didn't have a positive birth experience, even the ones that were being prepared through childbirth education, I realized that I needed to take an extra step and become doula," she told CafeMom. "So in 2014 I became a birth doula/postnatal doula and a childbirth educator."
The following year, she and her husband moved to Australia, after he was offered a new job in the field of chemical engineering. It was then that she began to put her sewing chops to even better use.
"He encouraged me to buy a sewing machine and continue to do my hobby here," she says, adding that she was "finally able to fully dedicate my time to do what I love."
It wasn't long before Simielli was inspired to make a few birthing dolls, with the intent of using them during her childbirth education classes.
She figured they would especially come in handy for young kids who were about to witness their sibling's home birth, and she wanted to prepare them for the arrival of a new baby.
Switching from baby shoes to realistic-looking dolls, however, wasn't that easy.
"It took me several days, trials, and errors," Simielli told CafeMom. But finally, in December 2015, she created a doll she was proud of.
To her pleasant surprise, the dolls were an immediate hit.
"I shared it in a Facebook group called Birth Workers, and in the next couple of hours I started receiving orders for more dolls," Simielli recalled. "I was thrilled, because that meant that I was moving in the right direction."
In the years that followed, Simielli was able to connect with several different organizations that support women entrepreneurs looking to build small businesses through handmade work. Their support, as well as the mentorship she received, was invaluable. But the love and support she's earned from her customers has been even more powerful.
"The feedback that I receive from the families are also amazing. They say that their kids loves it," she told CafeMom. "Every now and then I receive some photos of kids playing with my creations and have families returning to order another one to give as a gift for their midwives or their doulas."
Still, Simielli says it's been "a long road" to get to where she is now, and notes that living her passion hasn't always been easy.
"Like most of the small businesses, I'm the CEO, business manager, finance officer, social media manager, designer, and maker," she shared. "Everything is time-consuming, and I usually take almost three days working on one doll."
The painstaking work requires great attention to detail, as well as discipline. But it's also a creative process.
"I double check everything to make it to perfection," Simielli told CafeMom. "People that buy handmade items have no idea how much time it takes to create a single piece. I have created many dolls, but even though their main characteristics are the same, each one of them is unique and special with so much love involved."
The dolls Simielli makes range from those that illustrate the process of VBACs to ones that help children better understand breastfeeding.
They can also be customized with different hair color and skin color, which makes them inclusive as well as informative.
Simielli said she began by starting simple, creating dolls that illustrated what a vaginal birth was like. But as her dolls grew in popularity, she began getting requests for ones that showed a cesarean, which led to a VBAC option.
In fact, customer feedback has become an incredible tool for Simielli, inspiring her to take her craft even further.
"I also received request to make it smaller, without snaps, and to be a family (so they could add a dad or a mom), so I added the petite version to the range," she told CafeMom.
"When I was a kid I was passionate for a doll called Fofolete," Simielli continued. "She was tiny and could fit on my hands, so I designed the pocket version, and I love it!"
She's got plenty more ideas in the works, thanks to all of the great responses to her dolls so far.
"I'm being asked to add another baby (twins), to add a bigger sister, lotus bag, a special hair color, to add tattoo on mom, spare clothes … " she explains, adding that she always does her best to accommodate the requests. "I also have been asked to customize childbirth models to use on childbirth education, and it has being really a pleasure to see other professionals using my educational tools."
Demystifying the birthing process for as many children as she can an undeniably noble quest.
Interestingly, Simielli said that children aren't the only ones reacting to her dolls whenever she brings them out during a childbirth education class.
"When I'm using the dolls on my work, the first reaction that I get from mothers is to get a bit emotional remembering the unique moment of their children's births," she told CafeMom.
"The reaction from the kids are the cutest possible. At first they seem a bit impressed, then their eyes sparkle with joy, and they keep asking to do it again (as kids learn through repetition), and they want to help the baby to be born and help with breastfeeding. It really makes my heart warm just to talk about it!"
Above all, Simielli hopes her dolls lead to more positive conversations about childbirth in general, and make us all less fearful of the process.
"Childbirth is a first impression that we have from the world, and unfortunately most of us, in past generations, have been welcomed to this world in a white, cold, bright lights environment … no gentle touch, no skin-to-skin, no cuddles," she told CafeMom. "We have been separated in different rooms from our moms, isolated, and just coming to see Mom for breastfeeding. … That is an enormous imprint that stays with us. So we need to gently start recognizing and healing from that."
Welcoming a child into the world can be a "beautiful, gentle, and passionate moment in life," she continued. "It's a true transformation and moment of deeply love to be shared. And that's what I want — people to really educate themselves to be able to have the most positive experience in the arrival of a new soul in this world."
To check out more of Simielli's one-of-a-kind creations, visit her Etsy store or follow her on Facebook or Instagram.
