YES!! Services are covered prenatally for labor doulas, and postpartum up to 6 weeks for postpartum doulas. Doulas need to be certified and insured, which qualifies most of our ABC Doula team at this point and everyone in the future. If you have this benefit, let’s talk and find the perfect doula for you!

While many would say both (who wouldn’t want support with two life changing experiences?) I also know many parents have a limited budget and still want great support for their transitions to parenting.

New year, new vision! I need to do more. I need to shift my focus. We are calling grandparents to a new level of postpartum support that I used to reserve just for doulas. Introducing @newmamasmama…

Creating a postpartum plan? Does it include healing food and lactogenic meals? If your family isn’t already providing this nourishment, doulas can cook up a storm and be there to serve you all the nutrition, nurturing, and healing that home-prepared foods have to offer. If you have read THE FIRST 40 DAYS, you might be inspired to get the nest building support of a doula in the first month or so.

Students in our classes are very worried about sleep loss…and rightly so. Newborns wake up a lot at night, and it IS disruptive! Here is how you can avoid having to hire an overnight doula, if you have a few other pieces in place. It isn’t for everyone, and there are many ways to make it less necessary.

Are you a partner who wants to help but isn’t sure how? Consider her line of vision…what does she see, what is in front of her for HOURS every day while she is holding and feeding baby? This gives us a clue how to help…

The world needs more doulas! Career doulas, doulas who are trained and certified, doulas who work in the community! When we have more doulas, more people are ready to help.

So many moms have asked this question over the years, I thought I would collect some answers here that I have heard from moms group (and some I have tried myself) and see if they help out some new mamas.

Get out your calendars and let’s plan for baby’s early weeks!

BTW Good news, they start responsively smiling during this time and I’m pretty sure it was built into the design of babies to smile right before they get WAY harder!

Thought I might start this year with a blog about adding a new baby to the family. As we have welcomed so many new babies this season with older siblings, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few of the things we are learning from the families.

Professionals are available to answer your questions. Please call them! But when it comes to YOUR baby, your instinct matters! Don't feel like you need to have medical knowledge to know when something is wrong. Listen to your gut.

The phone rings. A new parent tries to hold their composure while I hear a baby crying in the background. They tell me they thought they had it all down, and then it just stopped working all of a sudden. Their baby is crying so much more, and they can't figure out why. They are trying everything, and wondering what is wrong.

Here are the facts: Parents are told to keep their babies on their back in a crib in their room, but the vast majority aren't following this guideline. Parents are bedsharing with their infants. Most of them are breastfeeding families. The majority are not telling their doctors.

So important to normalize this as it can be shocker for the first time parent and grandparent, as well as confusing watching the colors change during the time frame of breast and chest feeding.

Dozens of mamas have agonized over this task as they prepare to go back to work, or their partner or relative desperately wants to be included in the feeding. It often results in a lot of anxiety for the breastfeeding mother, and certainly for the baby's caregivers as well.  Here are some tips to help!

Sometimes we try every position we can think of to make babies happy, and nothing seems to work. We try up on the shoulder, over the arm, superman flying, tummy to tummy, cradle style...and still we don't find the sweet spot that puts baby at ease.

One question I often face as we plan their doula support is how they can continue to meet their older child's needs as well as the new baby's. I won't pretend to have mastery over this, but I can offer some helpful hints that clients have told me saved their relationship with their older child. One of my favorite tips is called PAY IT FORWARD.

Sunday nights are very popular requests for overnight doula care. Monday mornings are often flooded with calls from families who packed a lot into their weekend and now realize that more support would make a big difference. When families lack sleep, overnight care can make huge deposits in your sleep bank, and help get you back on track.

Pelvic health can be achieved, even with the changes that pregnancy and birth bring (both vaginal and cesarean). Muscles can be trained to work properly, but that takes professional guidance, and knowledge that most women don't automatically know.

Are you a partner who wants to know how to support a breastfeeding parent? The 3 bowl rule is for you!