What do doulas do…
Saying a doula is a non-medical birth support is like saying ice-cream is a frozen dairy based dessert: Accurate, but far too simplistic.
What does a doula actually do?
“For the first five hours, she didn’t seem to do much at all”. These were the words of a prospective client once reflected on the actions of her sister’s doula, at a birth where she was also a birth partner.
I nodded. Because from the outside, when you watch a doula, particularly in those first stages of labour, we don’t DO much. We sit, we listen, we watch and observe.
And then, when we’ve gathered all we need to know, and see the signs that things are ramping up, we act.
Bringing the right type of comfort, the right type of support, at exactly the right time into the birth space, adapting to our client’s physical, emotional, spiritual and logistical needs as and when they flux and change.
All so that they are able to birth their baby in the most positive way possible.
Why would someone choose a doula?
People choose to work with a doula for so many reasons: to avoid trauma or interventions, to get the continuous presence of someone experienced, to feel unconditionally supported and championed in their birth space.
Whatever the reason though, the common factor is this:to anyone who has started thinking about a doula, the support a doula gives is no longer a luxury: it’s a necessity.
The tricky thing is though that this is not what our culture teaches us. In a world that thrives on independence, solo-resilience and striking out on our own, first-time parents particularly very rarely do anything about these desires for support beyond the medical staff assigned to us.
So many people see hiring a doula as (at best) frivolous and (at worst) a weakness.
But that would be to ignore the evidence…
What’s the point of having a doula?
Having a doula by your side will most likely make you feel calm, confident and powerful. But this is emotional and so inherently undervalued in our world. So for the sake of creating a ‘real’ point, let’s look to the evidence.
Recent research suggests that having a doula by your side during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period leads to…
Reduced risk of Caesarean birth † *.
Reduced risk of instrumental birth † *.
Reduced need for painkillers or epidural during birth † *.
Reduced rate of induction of labour † *.
Shorter labour †.
Increased parental satisfaction with the birth experience. †
Increased likelihood of initiating breastfeeding *.
Increased likelihood of successfully establishing breastfeeding & breastfeeding at 6 weeks *.
Lower incidence of depressive symptomatology †.
Improve equity and provide culturally responsive care#
And who doesn’t want that? The evidence really does speak for itself here, doesn’t it. There’s quite a lot ‘of point’ to having a doula through pregnancy, birth and your postnatal period.
There are no two ways about it: doulas make an incredible difference and I could not be more proud of being one. But the landscape of doula care is changing…
The challenges faced by maternity services mean that we are needed now more than ever to stem the increasing tide of birth fear and trauma. But this sits against a backdrop of financial hardship: household budgets are stretched and every penny is counted.
This is why I scale my doula offering to make my services as accessible as possible to those who want it. From sixty minutes of my time in a doula power hour, to months of support in a full package, I make sure that I am as cost effective and transparent as possible. And when that doesn’t quite fit the bill, I am always happy to create bespoke packages to get people as much of the help they want at a price they can afford. Sound good? Get in touch and we’ll have a free chat to see what works.
