Nurturing Your New Family
What is a Doula?
Traditionally, when a mother gave birth to her baby, other women from her life such as her mother, aunts, sisters and neighbours surrounded her to help her and care for her during this transition. In our modern culture, life is different. Women are older having their children, they work outside the home and in many cases, live very far from their own family. As well as the mother themselves being in the workplace, her own mother may still be working and may not be there to support her during this exciting and challenging time.
A doula is an educated and experienced person who assists the family during labour and the 'fourth trimester' period to help them adapt to and enjoy their new life together.
A postnatal doula provides practical, informational and emotional support to the family in the first three months postpartum. This amazing time in a family's life can be intense and scary but so full of love. The doula is there to support the family through the early days of feeding and newborn care, helping to integrate the baby with siblings and pets.
The doula is a guide for the new parents to help them identify reputable resources for more information on different aspects to parenting and empowers them to make decisions on what is best for their family by following their instincts.
Benefits of a Postnatal Doula
You may be asking yourself 'why do I need a Doula?'. Having a Doula in the postpartum period can help you and your family in some of the following ways:
- Provide you with hands on support to help you focus on bonding with your baby and recovering after the birth
- Support you with infant care and feeding, in particular, supporting you in the early days of breastfeeding
- Encourage and support you and your partner in your new roles as parents as well as providing information on normal infant development, care and feeding specific to your needs
- Connect you with resources in your local community such as parenting groups, breastfeeding groups, etc...
