Practice as a Post-Partum Doula (Part 1 of 2)

“A post-partum doula is trained and experienced in meeting a new family’s needs for household help, meal preparation, advice and assistance with newborn care and feeding, and allowing time for the new mother to rest.” (From Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn, 5th edition).

Me as post-partum doula, holding the baby while my sister-in-law takes a shower.

On February 24, 2010 my brother Ben and his partner Abigail had their first baby, Anne. She weighed a healthy 8 lbs, 4 oz at birth and was born in the Kamloops hospital, naturally, with few complications.

This was great for me, because along with becoming an Aunt and having a new cousin for my little one, Julie, it was one of the first times in my life that I got to be the one in a position of support. As the little sister, growing up I was always used to doing things second. But in this instance I was able to use the experience I gained by having Julie last year to be in a position to help.

I am calling this post ‘Practice’ as a post-partum doula, because although I am a trained birth doula, I have not yet been trained as a post-partum doula. I am hoping to take the training in Lethbridge at the end of May.

It strikes me that, like a birth doula, training is not necessarily the most important element in providing post-partum support. Like a birth situation, being able to read the environment, and helping the mom in the way that she needs to be helped is the key. It is all part of preserving the space. This is just as important after the birth as during the birth process.

Sometimes family members can be in a great position to support the new parents (as I was in this case), but what about when there is no family available, or if the family and the new parents have different philosophies about how to parent? That is where a doula can be extremely useful. A good doula should be concerned with helping the parents to have the environment that they want, allowing them to rest and helping to increase their confidence (if they are first time parents).

In my next post, I will write about what specific kinds of things I help Abigail and Ben with.

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