Postpartum Doula Services
Is a Postpartum Doula Worth the price?
What is a Postpartum Doula exactly? A doula is someone who supports the birth parent and family at home. The role of a Doula is to provide education, non-judgemental support, and to assist the family during an adjustment period. This work is non medical and may help ease the day to day stressors. By nurturing the birth parent, a Doula enables the birth parent to recover from pregnancy and birth, allowing them to focus their energy on bonding with the new baby. A Doulas mission is to provide personalized care and to build authentic relationships.
When a baby comes home from the hospital, it's easy to fall behind on day to day chores. The birth parent will be recovering physically and emotionally. The new parents may be experiencing lack of sleep, feelings of exhaustion and may feel overwhelmed. In our society many parents feel very isolated. This may be because of having limited adult interaction, and feeling like it's not acceptable to ask for help. Parents can also feel like they do not have time to do anything other than be a parent. This can be a dangerous cycle and may lead to long term effects.
Hiring a Postpartum Doula is preventative care, the goal is to override crisis management. The National Institute of Health found that new parents who receive support from their community feel more confident in their care. Because of that, they tend to need fewer intervention measures later in life. There is further research that shows moms who feel personally supported tend to feel less anxiety, depression, loneliness, and stress.
Doulas may assist families with light cleaning and or organizing belongings, setting up the baby's room, laundry, and meal prepping. A doula may also help assist with breastfeeding/ bottle feeding, swaddling/baby wearing, and general baby care. If a Doula has other qualifications in alternative or complementary modalities, such as Child development or lactation, it will be made clear to the client that those modalities are outside the “doulas” scope of practice and that there will be an additional charge.
You may now be thinking, this is wonderful! But how long does a doula spend with the family? Typically, Postpartum Doula care is for the first 12 weeks after birth. This can look different for every family, there are many factors that come into play when determining the duration of support. Is the birth parent home alone all day with no support from friends and family? Is the birth parent a single parent? Are there multiple babies? The Doula will discuss goals and long term plans to help figure out the type of support the family will need. It also depends on the availability of the Doula. Some families may need more support during the morning, while other families need more support in the evening. During the first visit, the Doula will go over a “Postpartum plan” and discuss exploration. The Doula will emphasize concrete plans rather than wishful thinking.
Doulas are your go to person for ALL things birth and perinatal related. When appropriate, a Doula can make referrals to other providers such as lactation consultants, support groups, chiropractors, pelvic floor therapy, counselors and more. Together, we can provide comprehensive care that truly empowers families in the fourth trimester.
If you’re expecting and would love to know more information, send me a private message or give me a call so we can set up a private consultation.