What does a postpartum doula do?

Postpartum doula care looks different overnight versus during the day. Overnight, I have three priorities: Helping you feed your baby, helping you sleep, and supporting your self-development as a parent.

Helping you nurse or bottle feed:
I help you get comfortable, bring you your baby, and help you position your baby for nursing. I help adjust technique to help you get a better latch, and look for signs of issues that may warrant referral to a lactation consultant. While baby is nursing, I can let you enjoy the time one on one with your baby or I can keep you company. I restock your nursing station with breast pads, snacks, and water, so you have everything you need within reach. This looks much the same with bottle feeding, except I am not assisting with latch.

Helping you sleep:
I take care of baby’s needs such as burping and diaper changes. I can also help babies learn night from day - many babies sleep more during the day than at night at first, and need some gentle cues to learn to swap this pattern. Newborns make all sorts of movements and funny noises in their sleep, which often leads to parents feeling vigilant - “Is he hungry?” “Does she need me?” - or even just unable to sleep through the sounds. I observe these, watching for hunger cues, so that I only bring your baby to you when the baby needs you and let you sleep when your baby is just noisy in their sleep. I help with ensuring a healthy environment for your baby that encourages sleep. And, of course, I comfort your baby when they are well fed but having trouble sleeping.

Supporting your parenting journey:
We chat together about your day, your concerns, and your questions when I arrive for the evening. I offer a warm, caring ear for you to share your experience of parenting this new being, and provide informational support within the doula’s scope of practice and resources for additional support if a desire or need for them arises. We can also talk about your birth experience if you would like to share.

Other services that we provide overnight may include:
Helping with mobility after a cesarean or other birth-related recovery needs
Supporting you in using the restroom by filling your peri bottle, bringing you pads, etc.
Setting up a sitz bath
Cleaning bottles and pump parts
Folding baby laundry

What does this look like in the earlier evening hours?

The fussy hours care style usually includes everything overnight doula care includes, and more. Since most parents choose to stay awake for most of these hours, we are able to spend more time on informational support, breastfeeding support, and emotional support. However, some parents choose to sleep between feeding their baby, and then it is the same care as overnights, just in different hours. Bear in mind that cluster feeding often means these are just catnaps between nursing.

What do your services not include?

Some examples of excluded tasks in any of my service choices include deep cleaning, cooking meals (beyond reheating a dish or assembling a sandwich or salad), giving medications, clipping baby’s nails, or taking baby’s temperature rectally. I also do not babysit (that is, at least one household adult remains home when I am working), and under most circumstances, I serve families whose infants are under twelve weeks (adjusted, if born premature). It is also important to understand that my scope of practice does not include diagnosing or providing medical advice, though I may refer you to a provider if I see something I believe is outside the range of normal. Two common examples of this:
1. If I become concerned about your mental health, I can not evaluate you to see if you have a postpartum mood disorder or provide therapy. I will provide you with appropriate referrals and can help you navigate finding care covered by your insurance.
2. If you ask me to look at your cesarean stitches to see if they are healing properly, I will refer you to your OBGYN. If you wish, I can support you in making a phone call or writing a message in your online portal to make sure you are getting your questions answered to your satisfaction.

Do you sleep during your shift?

Generally, no. I stay awake during the night and sleep during the day after my shift, so I stay fresh and at my best when I am with you and your baby. This also allows me to monitor baby’s sleep more thoroughly to promote both healthy feeding and sleep. Depending on your preference, I may spend as much time as possible in the baby’s room, or I may spend baby’s sleep time listening from the next room while folding laundry or cleaning bottles. However, occasionally life happens and my daytime sleep is interrupted by some unusual situation that needs my attention. Because of this, I don’t promise that I will never take a nap during a shift, though I have only needed to do so three times ever so far. If you desire a 100% commitment to awake care, we can discuss this for an extra charge.

What’s the process like of working together?

First, you’ll want to chat with me to make sure we’re a good fit. We can arrange for a free 30 minute zoom or phone call starting with reaching me by any of the methods on the contact page. If you decide to book my services after this meeting, we’ll create a contract for the hours you want. After the paperwork is signed and the retainer fee is paid, we will have a prenatal meeting (or an initial meeting, if your baby is already born) where we will design your personalized postpartum plan. Then, we follow the plan, with room for adjustments as your needs may differ from what you anticipated.

What if I want to sleep through the night while you’re there?

With all parents, I try to maximize their sleep. For breastfeeding parents, the main concern here is establishing and maintaining milk supply. Eight hours is simply too long for newly lactating breasts to go without nursing or pumping. Therefore, for most nursing or pumping families, in the early weeks, you will need to wake up to nurse or pump at least twice during an eight hour overnight. We can discuss extending your sleep longer after your milk supply is well established, latching or pumping is easy, and baby is past their birth weight and gaining well.

Since families who are only bottle feeding donor milk or formula do not need to consider milk supply, I am willing to offer a solid stretch of sleep from any age for these families. Because I am a postpartum doula, my focus is supporting your transition to parenthood, so parents should schedule in at least one doula hour each shift before they plan to head to sleep.

In our free consultation, we can discuss your thoughts on sleep alongside how my services can support you, and then we will develop a more comprehensive, personalized plan in your prenatal visit. This plan is flexible for any changes in real time based on your baby’s needs, your needs, and your wishes.

Do you support nursing parents besides the birth mom?

I love supporting all nursing relationships! Breastfeeding and chest-feeding are wonderful for parents and babies, regardless of whether the parent gave birth. If you did not give birth or did not develop breasts, and you want to nurse with milk in a supplemental nursing system, you’ll see a board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) to get set up with this equipment. If you are a non-birthing parent who has mammary anatomy and you want to induce lactation, you will want multiple visits with an IBCLC that are even better when begun before the birth. In either instance, I’m happy to provide referrals and to support you in implementing the IBCLC’s guidance.

Do you have any scheduling requirements?

I work 1 to 5 nights per week, up to 3 months postpartum (or adjusted age, if baby was born prematurely).

My partner works an irregular night shift schedule. Can you help us?

Yes! If you need a schedule of varying nights instead of the same nights per week, we are able to handle this. In this case, we must require a minimum of three nights per week, since an irregular schedule impacts our ability to take other clients.

Do you ever work past 12 weeks or more than 5 nights per week?

I can very occasionally take on clients for longer or for more nights. Please inquire with your dates and any information you feel comfortable sharing about your reasons for desiring a higher intensity of care.

Do you only work the exact hours listed on your services page?

Not at all, those are just examples. I am happy to start a shift between 6pm and 10pm and end a shift between 5am and 7am, and I work 8-12 hours per night.

Do you only work in the cities listed below in your website footer?

I work throughout the entire Bay Area; however, cities beyond those listed will incur a travel fee per shift based on distance.

How does virtual support work?

One hour per week in the evening, we will meet on a video call to talk about anything we’d be chatting about in person. Frequent topics of conversation include:

Managing parents’ rest
How to know when baby is hungry and whether baby is getting enough
Lactation: establishing and maintaining supply, helping with nipple soreness, improving latch, and lots more
Evidence-based bottle feeding for the breastfed or formula fed baby
My baby is doing ___________. Is that normal???
Choices and methods for diapering, swaddling, using pacifiers, and other baby items
Baby’s sleep: what’s normal? When will it change? What can I do to help?
How to interact with your baby to help develop their brain and well-being
And, perhaps most importantly, parents benefit from having someone to listen and validate how their day has been, how they are feeling, what’s hard, what’s amazing, and everything else they are experiencing in this vulnerable and wondrous phase of life.

If I notice anything outside my scope, I can direct you to bring it up to your existing care providers if it is in their scope, or offer referrals to appropriate specialists, most commonly IBCLCs, mental health providers, or pelvic floor physical therapists.

This option is open to all new parents, and is highly recommended for the first 6-12 weeks, with the option to continue up to the first birthday. This service is packaged at 6 weekly meetings for $600. In the first 12 weeks you may double up a package and we’ll meet twice per week. In-person postpartum doula clients may choose this service to extend our time together, and will receive a discount on virtual support.