The word "doula" comes from the ancient Greek meaning "a woman who serves" and is now used to refer to a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.
A Birth Doula:
Recognizes birth as a key experience the mother will remember all her life
Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor
Assists the woman in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth
Stays with the woman throughout the labor
Provides emotional support, physical comfort measures and an objective viewpoint, as well as helping the woman get the information she needs to make informed decisions
Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and her clinical care providers
Perceives her role as nurturing and protecting the woman's memory of the birth experience
Allows the woman's partner to participate at his comfort level
The doula supports the mother's beliefs and desires for her childbirth experience. A doula will offer support and encouragement to the woman and her partner, but as a birthing professional does not intrude on their experience.
A doula will stay with the mother for a brief period after the birth of her child and will offer suggestions and assist with breastfeeding. She will help the mother and her partner as they are adjusting to their new role as parents. A doula's presence is reassuring and comforting to women and their partners during this miraculous time.
What is a Postpartum Doula?
Postpartum Doulas:
* Assist with aspects of breastfeeding.
* Provide emotional support to the new mother during her recovery.
* Provide assistance with newborn care.
* Increase parental confidence as she helps new parents learn to respond to their newborns individual needs.
* Helps decrease incidences of maternal exhaustion and frustration.
* Offer resources to families based on their needs.
A postpartum doula is trained to support women and their families in the first few weeks after childbirth. A postpartum doula understands responsibilities that new parents face & assists and encourages them while they are transitioning into their new roles, while respecting individual preferences as to how to care for the new baby.
Postpartum doulas are ideal for families in which:
* Mother or baby had complications during labor & delivery, or in the immediate postpartum period.
* Mother has a history of depression (postpartum or otherwise).
* There are multiple children.
* Mother has been having breastfeeding difficulty.
What is an Antepartum Doula?
Antepartum Doulas provide help and support to a mother who has been put on bed rest or is experiencing a high risk-pregnancy. They provide informational, emotional, physical and practical support in circumstances that are often stressful, confusing and emotionally draining.
If you want support during childbirth, you can get a birth doula. Want help after the baby’s here? Then a postpartum doula is for you. But what if you need help before the baby’s arrived, during pregnancy? What if you’re on bed rest, or you’re experiencing a difficult pregnancy and need extra support? Then, you want an antepartum doula.
Antepartum doulas are a newer kind of doula, specializing in supporting women going through a high-risk or difficult pregnancy. They support their clients in a number of ways. If a woman is on bed rest, an antepartum doula can help much like a postpartum doula helps a new mother – cooking meals, light housework, helping the mother organize things for the new baby, and, most importantly, providing emotional and informational support.
Antepartum doulas aren’t just for women on bed rest, however. Teenage mothers may want an antepartum doula to help support them through the difficult emotional challenges. Women who have many children and need extra support may hire an antepartum doula, as may a mother who experiences severe morning sickness.
If an expecting mother wants more support during the pregnancy, whether it’s help at home or having someone to come with her to doctor appointments, an antepartum doula can help fill that need.
Like postpartum doulas, antepartum doulas charge by the hour, typically something between $15-35 an hour, depending on where you live and what training and experience your doula has. If you’re on bed rest, your insurance company may be willing to foot the bill, so make sure to check with them.
What Are The Benefits To Using A Doula?
In the hospital setting, numerous studies have shown the benefits of a doula, including:
Reduces the need for interventions, pain medication and surgical delivery
Results in shorter labors with fewer complications
Increases breastfeeding success
Reduces negative feelings about the birth
And reduces postpartum depression
Read this article at DONA International on why you should choose a doula to attend your birth.
What About A Homebirth Setting?
In the home setting, doulas can still play an important role! Some of the ways Caitlin may support your family and the team (beyond physical, emotional and mental support):
Early labor support before the midwife arrives
Nourishing everyone with hot meals
Tub set up/take down or last minute running to the store for necessities
Provide opportunities for caregivers and partner to rest
Here is a helpful article on how fathers and doulas together make a wonderful support team.
Dads and Doulas: Key Players on Mother's Labor Support Team
When it comes to pregnancy, birth, and parenting, today's father may want to share everything with his partner. He may want to be actively involved; ease his partner’s labor pain, welcome his baby at the moment of birth and help care for his newborn at home. A birth doula can help a father experience this special time with confidence.
Studies show that when doulas are present at birth, women have shorter labors, fewer medical interventions, fewer cesareans and healthier babies. Recent evidence also suggests that when a doula provides labor support, women are more satisfied with their experience and the mother-infant interaction is enhanced as long as two months after the birth. With doula support, fathers tend to stay more involved with their partner rather than pull away in times of stress.
Today, a father's participation in birth preparation classes or his presence at prenatal visits and in the birth suite is a familiar occurrence. Yet, we sometimes forget that the expectations of his role as a labor coach may be difficult to fulfill. Sometimes it is also culturally inappropriate for an expectant father to be so intimately involved in the process of labor and birth.
The father-to-be is expected, among other things, to become familiar with the process and language of birth, to understand medical procedures and hospital protocols and to advocate for his partner in an environment and culture he may be unfamiliar with. A doula can provide the information to help parents make appropriate decisions and facilitate communication between the birthing woman, her partner and medical care providers.
At times a father may not understand a woman’s instinctive behavior during birth and may react anxiously to what a doula knows to be the normal process of birth. He may witness his partner in pain and understandably become distressed. The doula can be reassuring and skillfully help the mother to cope with labor pain in her unique way. The father-to-be may be asked to accompany his partner during surgery should a cesarean become necessary. Not all fathers can realistically be expected to coach at this intense level.
Many fathers are eager to be involved during labor and birth. Others, no less loving or committed to their partners' well being, find it difficult to navigate in uncharted waters. With a doula, a father can share in the birth at level at which he feels most comfortable. The doula’s skills and knowledge can help him to feel more relaxed. If the father wants to provide physical comfort, such as back massage and change of positions, and help his partner to stay focused during contractions, the doula can provide that guidance and make suggestions for what may work best.
Physicians, midwives and nurses are responsible for monitoring labor, assessing the medical condition of the mother and baby and treating complications when they arise; but birth is also an emotional and spiritual experience with long-term impact on a woman's personal well being. A doula is constantly aware that the mother and her partner will remember this experience throughout their lives. By mothering the mother during birth, the doula supports the parents in having a positive and memorable birth experience.
The benefits of doula care have been recognized worldwide. The Medical Leadership Council of Washington, D.C, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and the World Health Organization are among the many healthcare organizations that value the benefits that doulas provide to women in labor.