Questions that are covered below: What is a doula?
What is a doula?
A doula is a compassionate and knowledgeable support professional who provides physical, emotional, and informational care before, during, and after life’s significant transitions. Rooted in the ancient tradition of communal care, doulas empower individuals and families by offering reassurance, advocacy, and practical assistance tailored to each person’s unique needs and preferences.
During pregnancy and birth, a doula serves as a steady presence, guiding expectant parents through education, comfort measures, and advocacy to ensure they feel informed, confident, and heard. In postpartum care, a doula offers nurturing support—helping with infant feeding, emotional well-being, and the adjustment to new family
What are the benefits of hiring a doula?
Birth:
Hiring a birth doula offers a range of evidence-based benefits that support the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of both the birthing person and their family. As trained, non-medical professionals, doulas provide continuous, personalized care that complements clinical support, empowering individuals to navigate labor with confidence and agency.
Doulas provide unwavering emotional support, helping to reduce fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation during labor. This presence fosters a greater sense of control and confidence, which has been shown to improve overall birth satisfaction. People who work with doulas often report feeling more self-assured and respected in their birth experience.
Doulas tailor their support to each individual’s values, culture, and birth preferences. Whether assisting in hospital, birth center, or home settings, they advocate for informed decision-making and respectful, patient-centered care. Their presence is especially valuable for people from historically marginalized communities, where research suggests doula care can help reduce health disparities and improve birth equity.
Postpartum:
A postpartum doula provides comprehensive, evidence-based support that nurtures the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of new parents and their families during the critical transition after birth. Postpartum doulas offer personalized, non-medical care, fostering a more confident and supported recovery while enhancing newborn care and family adjustment.
Postpartum doulas offer evidence-based lactation guidance, helping with positioning, latch techniques, and troubleshooting common concerns; as well as hands-on education in newborn care, including diapering, bathing, soothing techniques, and sleep support. They also assist with rest, nourishment, and holistic recovery after birth. By offering light household help, meal preparation, and reminders for hydration and rest, they create an environment that supports healing.
How does a birth doula serve me?
Before Birth: Building a Foundation of Support
Your doula will take time to understand your unique needs, values, and birth preferences. Prenatal visits often include:
Education & Preparation: Evidence-based guidance on labor, birth options, comfort measures, and newborn care.
Emotional & Mental Support: Helping you navigate fears, excitement, or past experiences that may influence your birth journey.
Birth Plan Assistance: Exploring your options and preferences to create a flexible plan that reflects your values.
During Labor: Continuous, Personalized Care
Your doula will provide support throughout labor, whether at home, a birth center, or a hospital. This may include:
Physical Comfort Measures: Gentle touch, massage, counter-pressure, breathing techniques, position changes, and relaxation methods to ease pain and enhance progress.
Emotional Encouragement: A steady, reassuring presence to help you feel grounded and in control.
Advocacy & Communication Support: Helping you understand your options, ask questions, and make informed decisions in collaboration with your medical team.
Partner & Family Involvement: Guiding your support team in ways to be actively engaged and present during birth.
After Birth: Gentle Guidance in Early Postpartum
Your doula remains available after birth to ensure a smooth transition into postpartum, offering:
Immediate Postpartum Support: Assistance with initial skin-to-skin bonding, breastfeeding (if desired), and emotional well-being.
Post-Birth Debriefing: Processing your birth experience and answering any lingering questions.
Continued Resources: Guidance on postpartum recovery, newborn care, and additional support networks.
How does a postpartum doula serve me?
Working with a postpartum doula means receiving compassionate, personalized support during the critical transition after birth. A postpartum doula nurtures the whole family—offering emotional reassurance, evidence-based guidance, and practical assistance to help you recover, bond with your baby, and adjust with confidence.
Emotional & Mental Well-Being
A postpartum doula provides a calm, nonjudgmental presence, offering:
Emotional support as you navigate the joys and challenges of early parenthood.
A listening ear to process your birth experience and any feelings that arise.
Gentle guidance in recognizing and addressing postpartum emotional changes.
Physical Recovery & Practical Support
Your doula helps ensure a smoother recovery by:
Encouraging rest, hydration, and nourishment.
Offering light household help, such as meal prep or tidying, so you can focus on healing.
Providing tips for postpartum comfort and self-care.
Infant Care & Feeding Support
Doulas offer evidence-based guidance to help you feel confident in caring for your newborn, including:
Breastfeeding or bottle-feeding support, assisting with latch, positioning, and troubleshooting common concerns.
Help with newborn care—diapering, bathing, soothing techniques, and sleep strategies.
Encouragement in developing a rhythm that aligns with your family’s needs.
Support for the Whole Family
A postpartum doula nurtures not just the birthing parent but also partners, siblings, and other caregivers by:
Helping partners feel included and confident in supporting the baby and each other.
Offering guidance on sibling adjustment and family dynamics.
Providing culturally responsive and inclusive care that honors your family’s values and traditions.
Is an unmedicated birth required to work with a doula?
No, an unmedicated birth is not required when working with a birth doula. A doula’s primary role is to offer continuous, personalized support that aligns with your individual birth preferences, regardless of the approach you choose. Whether you are planning for an unmedicated birth, using pain relief methods such as an epidural, or preparing for a cesarean, a doula is there to provide emotional reassurance, physical comfort, and advocacy throughout your experience.
The goal of a doula is to help you feel informed, supported, and empowered in the decisions you make, and to ensure you feel heard and respected at every stage of your birth. Their role is never to impose a particular type of birth, but to help you navigate your journey in a way that feels right for you, supporting your preferences, needs, and well-being at every turn.
How can a doula support a cesarean birth?
A doula can offer valuable support during a cesarean birth by ensuring that the birthing person feels informed, empowered, and calm throughout the process. While a doula is not a medical provider, their role is to provide continuous emotional, physical, and informational support, helping the family feel centered and supported in a sometimes unexpected or medically complex situation.
In preparation, a doula can provide emotional reassurance to help ease any anxiety or fear surrounding the procedure; discuss the process of the cesarean, addressing any questions or concerns to ensure you feel informed and confident in your choices; and assist in advocating for preferences, such as having a supportive birth team, immediate skin-to-skin contact with the baby, or ensuring a calm environment during the surgery.
While the medical team handles the surgical aspects, a doula can offer a calming presence by holding the birthing person’s hand, offering soothing words, and providing gentle touch to reduce stress and increase comfort; support the partner, helping them stay involved and calm, and guiding them through their role in the process; and advocate for the birthing person’s preferences, such as keeping the curtain lowered for visibility or supporting immediate bonding and breastfeeding if desired.
Following the birth, a doula can facilitate early bonding by assisting with skin-to-skin contact and encouraging breastfeeding (if desired); provide reassurance and emotional support to help process the birth experience; and guide the transition to recovery.
If my partner is with me, why do I need a doula? While your partner’s presence is important and valuable during labor, a birth doula offers additional, specialized support that complements their role and enhances your overall experience. A doula provides continuous, uninterrupted care, offering physical comfort through techniques like massage, position changes, and breathing exercises, as well as emotional reassurance to help you stay calm and empowered throughout labor. They also assist in advocating for your birth preferences, ensuring your needs are communicated clearly to the medical team, while offering support to your partner, guiding them in how they can best assist you. The doula creates a calming environment, helps foster a sense of confidence and control, and ensures that both you and your partner feel supported, informed, and connected, making the experience more positive and less overwhelming. A birth doula's presence ensures that you receive a holistic, empowering birth experience, whether you choose an unmedicated birth, use pain relief methods, or have a cesarean.
A postpartum doula offers specialized, non-medical support that can help both you and your partner navigate the transition to parenthood with greater ease and confidence. They provide tailored support for your physical and emotional recovery, offering guidance on self-care, rest, and nourishment while helping you adjust to life with a newborn. The doula also assists with infant care, such as breastfeeding, diapering, and soothing techniques, so your partner can take breaks or focus on their own recovery. In addition to emotional reassurance, the doula provides a compassionate, nonjudgmental space to process your birth experience and adjust to parenthood, supporting both your mental well-being and your partner’s confidence in their caregiving role. They also help with family dynamics, including sibling adjustment and offering culturally responsive care, ensuring that the whole family feels supported. A postpartum doula complements the love and support your partner provides, offering extra care, expertise, and reassurance during this significant life transition.
What questions might I ask a prospective doula?
For birth doula:
What is your training and certification process?
How many births have you attended, and what types of birth experiences have you supported (e.g., home births, hospital births, cesareans, unmedicated births)?
Do you have experience supporting families with similar birth preferences or circumstances as mine?
How would you describe your overall approach to birth support?
How do you support parents in making informed decisions, especially when challenges arise during labor or birth?
How do you work with medical providers and other members of the birth team?
How do you balance advocating for my birth plan while being flexible with changes or unexpected circumstances?
What types of physical support do you offer during labor (e.g., massage, breathing techniques, positioning)?
How do you support my partner, and what role do they play in the birth process with your assistance?
What happens if you’re unavailable at the time of my labor? Do you have backup doulas? How do you handle that situation?
What is your availability around my due date, and how early will you meet with me to discuss my birth preferences?
How often will we meet before labor? And what kind of support do you offer during the postpartum period?
What is your fee structure, and what does that include? Are there any additional costs?
Can you share examples of how you’ve helped families navigate difficult decisions or unexpected changes during labor?
How do you communicate with me and my partner before and during labor?
For postpartum doula:
What is your training and certification process for postpartum doula work?
How many families have you supported in the postpartum period, and what kinds of experiences have you had (e.g., single parents, multiples, cesarean recovery)?
Do you have experience supporting families with similar cultural or personal values as mine?
How would you describe your approach to postpartum care?
How do you approach emotional and mental health support for parents during the postpartum period?
How do you help families navigate and adjust to the many transitions in the postpartum period, such as feeding, sleep, and family dynamics?
What types of physical support do you offer during the postpartum period (e.g., postpartum recovery care, infant care support, household help)?
What specific newborn care support do you provide (e.g., breastfeeding assistance, diapering, infant soothing techniques)?
How do you support partners and other family members during the postpartum period?
What is your availability, and how soon after the birth do you typically start supporting families?
How many hours of support do you provide each week, and do you offer flexible hours?
What is your fee structure, and what services are included in that fee? Are there any additional costs?
What happens if you're unavailable for the duration of my postpartum period? Do you have a backup doula or team?
Do you provide any resources or referrals for additional emotional or mental health support if needed?
How do you communicate with me and my partner before, during, and after visits?
What are typical financial arrangements?
As each doula represents an individual woman-owned business, financial arrangements will vary.
Birth doulas often have a flat fee and request to be paid a deposit at the time of signing a contract; usually this represents a portion of the total fee. Some doulas wish to collect their entire fee prior to the birth, while others are content to receive prompt payment at the first postpartum visit.
Postpartum doulas may offer packages and/or charge by the hour and typically request to work a minimum number of hours per visit. Postpartum doulas may also request a deposit upon booking.
We also encourage you to check with your insurance provider! More companies are recognizing the value of doula work and covering our services. Boeing, SalesForce, and EBay are a few of the companies that have provided coverage for our clients. When meeting with your prospective doula, ask her about her experience/ability to work with your insurance plan.
Please discuss payment plans with your doula of choice. We hope that you will find a doula that fits your families needs, both personally and financially.