A postpartum doula supports a family in the immediate postpartum period with practical, emotional and educational assistance.

She can perform one of the following tasks:

• Assistance with breastfeeding • Prepare feedings and / or bottle-feed a baby • Take care of older siblings • Preparation of meals • Do light housework ◦ eg. washing and ironing, light cleaning • Provide support at night • Education and information on parenting problems

A postpartum doula is there to support a new mother in caring for her newborn and provide her with the care and information she needs to orient herself in the first few weeks of parenting. She does not act as a nurse or midwife, so it does not provide clinical care such as monitoring a baby’s growth or administering medications. A postpartum doula is not a nanny who only looks after older children, nor is she a cleaning lady. She is there to help parents develop new skills to enable them to develop confidence in their new role.

A doula supports a woman and her partner during pregnancy, birth, and the early weeks of parenting, with reassurance, practical assistance, and information.

A doula is someone you come to know well by the time of your birth, and who is there during your labor, by your side, focused solely on you and your partner. She can encourage you, remain objective, and help your partner feel more confident about how to support you. She can also assist you with practical knowledge on comfort measures for labor, such as massage and suggestions for positioning. A doula can provide information when you have questions, and can help you communicate most effectively with your medical caregivers.

The main focus of a doula’s role is often on the birth itself, but doula support can also be invaluable during pregnancy (especially if you face questions about tests or complications), and after the birth when she can help out with feeding and adjusting to life with a newborn.

 There are a few things a doula is not.

She is not acting as a nurse or midwife, so she does not provide clinical care such as doing examinations on you or checking your baby’s heartbeat. The support a doula provides fits together with, but does not replace, the care of your doctor, midwife, or nurses.

Doulas do not make decisions for you, or speak for you. This is your birth, your baby, your life!

A doula supports you by providing information and explanations you may want about your choices, but it’s always you who decides what’s best for you.

Research shows the effectiveness of a doula in reducing the medicalization of delivery so much so that WHO recently affirmed that doulas are a precious presence during childbirth and that every woman should have a doula on her side.

“Continuous support during labour may improve outcomes for women and infants, including increased spontaneous vaginal birth, shorter duration of labour, and decreased caesarean birth, instrumental vaginal birth, use of any analgesia, use of regional analgesia, low five-minute Apgar score and negative feelings about childbirth experiences.

We found no evidence of harms of continuous labour support. Subgroup analyses should be interpreted with caution, and considered as exploratory and hypothesis-generating, but evidence suggests continuous support with certain provider characteristics, in settings where epidural analgesia was not routinely available, in settings where women were not permitted to have companions of their choosing in labour, and in middle-income country settings, may have a favourable impact on outcomes such as caesarean birth.”

Continuous support for women during childbirth, Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online) 7(2) · July 2017
Doula and Partner

The birth of your baby is a very private event. You might be wondering if a doula will replace or exclude your partner or intrude.

The role of the doula is never to take the place of husbands or partners in labor but rather to compliment and enhance their experience.

I serve as a trauma-informed conscious birth doula and I help women have a less fearful and painful birth and prevent postpartum depression.

Thinking and working holistically means I provide support that looks at the whole person and considers your physical, emotional, social and spiritual well-being. I give you my full individual attention. In fact, I prefer to have only one or at most 2 clients at the same time. Oh! How I like to pamper you and make you feel good!

We will get to know each other on a very deep level so I can fully understand your desires and fears, be your advocate so you can have your birth your way, and work together in an environment of mutual trust.

You will receive many tools to help you feel empowered. You will learn exercises to relieve common pregnancy symptoms, the best positions during childbirth, nutrition, and everything about the physiology of childbirth so that you feel confident in yourself and your abilities.

I will help you connect with your body and your emotions in a deeper way so that you can calm your fears and stay fully  present to bring more ease to your birth experience.

You will discover that you have a super power! I’ll teach you how to use your superpower during birth, then continue to use it into motherhood.

If you wish, you can opt to receive Gentle Bio-energetics and Reiki to support and restore the energy of you and your baby from pregnancy to childbirth to postpartum.

People often confuse the figure of the doula with that of the midwife or ask me if it is a new profession.

The word “doula” comes from ancient Greek, meaning “Woman’s servant.” Doulas have been at women’s sides as long as midwives. Traditionally only the midwife, a helper and the mother would have been present at birth. Doulas were the women-helpers; women of age who had been-there-done-that, they were old enough to understand the work being done.

These women were always there to give massage or apply a cool washcloth, help in and out of positions to labor in, fetch the midwife’s tools or herbs, give emotional support and encouragement, and give tips.

Her role was and is to create a calm and safe environment and expertly soothe and support the birthing mother.