How can a doula help you?
“What do I do after I have the baby?” is a question that I hear a lot from many moms-to-be. We spend a lot of time planning our births and growing beautiful, healthy babies. The time period after birth is probably the least planned for time in the journey of starting a family. I spent a lot of time with my first pregnancy educating myself about how to have a healthy, natural birth. After I had my son, I realized that I needed help in doing the simple things like eating, sleeping, and taking care of myself and my son. My husband and I did think about how we could make the least environmental impact, and that resulted in learning about cloth diapering and making our own baby food as my baby got older. However, those first few weeks we were so sleep deprived that we didn’t use the cloth diapers we bought (we did use them later) or have time to implement the other ideas that we had learned about.
It was all a quick blur and it was not until my second birth that I decided I was going to get professional help with those first few weeks of postpartum recovery. I searched for a person who could come into my home and take care of me and my family, and educate us further about implementing those things that we found to be really important right off the bat. The biggest hurdle we crossed was do we get a baby nurse or a postpartum doula and do we have enough money to afford either one. We researched what each professional could contribute to our family and decided that a postpartum doula was the best bet for us.
A postpartum doula is trained and certified to help with breastfeeding, infant baby care, and the postpartum recovery for mom. Our doula was able to come over and help with meal preparation (most doulas are able to make nutritious, meals that fit your diet and are aware of what a postpartum body needs to recuperate better and faster), breastfeeding, and I was also able to take a nap. She supported our cloth diapering and other systems that we had in place to keep our home as organic as possible. She had a library that I could borrow from and was an extra set of educated hands that was so necessary.
There are many ways to locate a postpartum doula. You can find one in your local region by using the doula finder tool on DONA International’s website or going to a local Meet the Doula evening in your area. I would suggest that you interview at least three doulas or go through a doula agency that does the screening for you. Once you begin interviewing doulas make sure they are certified or in the process of completing a certification program and have all the necessary requirements to be a postpartum doula. These include but are not limited to CPR training, breastfeeding education, and nutrition. Postpartum doulas normally charge by the hour, but some have packages that you can select from and personalize for your family. Studies have found that a postpartum doula can increase your satisfaction with your birth experience, reduce the incidence of postpartum depression and increase the rate of breastfeeding success.
Most importantly when interviewing ask the postpartum doula how they can help you use products that are organic and safe for you and your baby. Which bottles or baby items are BPA free, what baby wraps are made out of organic cotton, and other similar information? She will be able to help support evidence based ways to make your child’s life more healthy and organic!
Welcome to our newest guest blogger! We are excited to have a wonderful doula contributing to our site!
Michelle-Nicholle Calareso DONA
Michelle-Nicholle Calareso is the mother of two boys and a birth and postpartum doula. She is the founder and owner of Sunflower Doula Services (www.sunflowerdoula.com) and on the board of directors for DONA International. For more information about postpartum doulas you can visit www.dona.org.
Michelle-Nicholle Calareso CD(DONA)
Multicultural Director of DONA International www.dona.org