What is a postpartum doula? And why have a postpartum doula?
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Becoming a mother is such a pivotal moment in a woman’s life. Having support is so important, especially in those first few weeks postpartum. There are many ways a woman can be supported during this time and a postpartum doula is someone who can help tremendously.
What is a postpartum doula?
A doula is someone who supports women and their families during childbearing. A postpartum doula focuses on supporting women during the initial postpartum period- or the first weeks after she has given birth- they are there to help a woman transition from pregnant woman to mama.
Learn more about how a doula can help support you through childbirth in this blog post The Difference between a Midwife and a Doula.
What does a postpartum doula do?
The postpartum doulas main focus is protecting and supporting the mother baby dyad. The mother baby dyad is the relationship between mom and baby biologically, socially and psychologically. It is important to protect this dyad because the baby’s development is shaped by the bond created between mom and baby.
Birth is such a big transition that requires a lot of rest and recovery afterwards. How you rest and recover can play a role in your mental health, and this is so important postpartum. Your mental health will impact your ability to bond and care for your baby.
How does a postpartum doula support new parents?
-help with newborn care. Many new parents don’t know what to do once they are on their own, no doctors or midwives or nurses to guide them. Postpartum doulas can offer guidance at home with you and help establish newborn care routines. This help could include soothing baby, changing diapers, bathing and feeding.
-offer breastfeeding or bottle-feeding support
-light house cleaning. Postpartum doulas may do things like the dishes or fold the laundry.
-cook nutritious meals. Making sure mom is fed is an important task for postpartum doulas. After having a new baby, moms often forget to eat. She may also help make sure the rest of the family is fed, too, so mom doesn’t have to worry about this.
-run errands
-they may offer referrals to any local resources that may benefit mom and family like pediatricians, lactation support, parenting classes etc.
Cost to hire a postpartum doula
The cost of postpartum doulas will range based on what part of the country you live in, as well as their services and the skills that the doula has. Oftentimes postpartum doulas will offer discounts on things like, if they are booked for a certain amount of hours, if you pay in advance or if they are new. The range of cost per hour is typically $15-50.
Why hire a postpartum doula?
My partner can help me recover after I give birth so why should I hire a postpartum doula? Because not everyone has family to support them. It’s also important to remember that doulas are trained to do this. They are helping women all of the time, your partner only knows so much and he is going to be tired, too. The postpartum doula is there to support the family as a whole. And if you don’t have family nearby, this is especially helpful.
Lack of support is a big driver that can negatively impact a new moms mental health. Postpartum depression affects 1 in 10 women, some studies say 1 in 7 women, and postpartum depression can be long lasting and affects the relationship between mom and baby. There are many things that can contribute to postpartum depression but one of those things is support. That is why if you don’t have a support system in place, people who can cook or clean, help with the baby if necessary, help with older children etc. then you should highly consider hiring help, and a postpartum doula is a great person to help in this stage of life.
More on Natural and Empowered Birth
I created Natural and Empowered Birth because I want to help women have a positive birth experience.
I’ve always been fascinated by birth and love hearing other mama’s birth stories. Learning about how women can have a beautiful and empowering birth set me on a path to have one myself and now I want to help women have a great birthing experience too.
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