Frequently Asked Questions
Over the course of providing postpartum care to more than 650 families we have had lots of questions about our service. Below are the answers to some of the most common questions we’ve been asked. If you have questions than aren’t answered here, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to answer them!
Sometime people are surprised that people would want to hire a doula and have asked us who our clients are. Each family is unique, but we have seen some patterns over the years. Here are some of the types of parents who call us for help with their newborns.
First time parents
Parents of multiples (twins, triplets)
Cesarean section birth/recovery
Families with little local support
Women who want to breastfeed
Families with other young children
Women at risk for or experiencing postpartum depression & anxiety
Premature births/babies on apnea monitors
Women who have experienced difficult deliveries
Babies with colic or reflux
Families with high anxiety levels
Babies with special needs
New parents with limited experience with newborns
Women who have been on bed rest throughout pregnancy
New parents with no family nearby
Is there a best time to use a postpartum doula?
The first few weeks are when you can benefit the most from knowledgeable helpers in your home. Having a doula there the first couple days can make days 3, 4, & 5 (when your milk typically arrives) much more manageable.
We also serve many families during 3-8 weeks, when babies tend to ramp up their fussy times. This is often a time of problem-solving and getting some much-needed rest when it seems like things will never change (they will!).
We also fill the gaps of family support; as grandparent support comes and goes there is often a transition time where only a little help is needed until families are doing well on their own. The care level is different for every family, and we customize the care plan for each family’s particular requests.
Sometimes just one or two visits is needed, other times families want ongoing doula support for weeks or even months. To help give you an idea how postpartum care can be used, we have created some sample care plans based on the compiled experiences of over 600 client families. These sample postpartum care plans can be found on our Hours and Pricing page.
Can you help in c-section recovery?
Yes! We can be your hands and feet while you recover. We make food, do dishes, wash and fold laundry, change bedding, and generally take care of the family while everyone rests and recovers from surgery, the exhausting hospital stay, and adjustment to newborn life. Think of your doula as the bedside nurse that you get to take home (minus the RN part); we can run back and forth with everything you need so you don’t have to get out of bed.
What about vaginal births?
We encourage all families to rest after the birth, and if you had a vaginal delivery it is important to get off your feet sometimes. We can do all the above listed things, plus set up your sitz baths, peri bottles, and help position baby for feeds that allows you to rest your sorest parts.
Do you care for the baby?
We are happy to provide however much newborn care your family needs, however we always want to leave the bonding moments for mom and dad/partner. We will help setup breastfeeding or bottle feeding (including the pump and milk storage system) and burp, diaper and bathe baby as needed.
*We will also give you all our secret tips to making these times efficient and keeping your baby happy in the process.*
We do want to emphasize that we are not there to parent the baby; this baby came to live with your family and we will be happy to use any parenting technique that fits your style. (If we have a certain style we want to use, we can use it at home with our own kids!) We will not pass judgment on your approach, but we can make suggestions on techniques that have worked for other families we have served if you need some new ideas.
How you do select your doulas?
We have often been asked how we find and hire our doulas. As each situation is as unique as the doulas are, there isn’t one way in particular we find the amazing women who work with us. Some find us first; we meet with them, see if they are a fit for our clients and our approach, and move forward. Others are students at our CAPPA trainings who stand out as having remarkable skills and talents and we invite them to consider working in our group.
As we have slowly added doulas over the years, we have refined this process – taking our time and carefully looking at each doula before we consider her joining our team. In addition to looking at each potential doula’s experience, skills, personality etc. we also make sure to check with her to see if working in a group is a good fit for her (and her family) as well.
We are proud to say that our doulas are the highest caliber of women both personally and professionally. They attend numerous ongoing education events yearly, work collaboratively with each other as well as client’s care providers, and strive to bring evidence-based care into the home with gentleness and expertise. We are so happy they have shared their time and talents with us.
If you are considering becoming or are already an experienced postpartum doula and think working in our group would be a good fit for you, give us a call and we can do a preliminary phone interview.
What kind of training is involved in postpartum doula work?
Women come to this work through a love of nurturing families. We often love babies (!) and have a passion for supporting the transitions of welcoming a new baby. These are prerequisites for doulas, and training builds on this. A postpartum workshop is an intense time of building a foundation for the basics that will be used every day in doula work. Doula experience is built family by family, and on the job training is an ongoing process. All of our doulas go through an initial training, however they also attend ongoing education courses locally and travel to attend conferences and workshops all over the US to sharpen and update their skills. We love learning, and babies provide us such great opportunities to want to learn and understand more so we can pass that knowledge to the parents we serve.
