A typical doula visit

As I was holding a beautiful sleeping baby boy yesterday at a postpartum doula visit, I wondered if it would be helpful to more specifically explain what these 3 - 4 hour visits look like.

A doula visit is personalized and focuses on whatever the family needs such as encouragement, information, praise, baby care, feeding support, help with household tasks, etc. While every family has unique requests and needs, here is a recap of two recent doula visits and how the parent (s) and I spent the time together.

Family 1 - our third and final visit

• We sat together while mom fed the baby and she shared aspects of her recent week - what went well, and a of couple struggles. She asked me a question about breastfeeding. While we talked, I folded a load of laundry.

• I then burped and changed the baby while she went to put the clean clothes away and get herself a snack.

• Baby and I played on the floor and practiced tummy time.

• Mom checked in every so often and then decided to take a long shower.

• Baby fell asleep while I was holding him and we sat together for 45 minutes.

• When baby woke up, we played a little more and then he showed some hunger cues so mom nursed while I folded a second load of laundry. I retrieved a cold drink for mom while she nursed.

• I then burped and changed the baby again, while mom put away more folded laundry.

• Mom lay down for 45 minutes while baby and I walked around the house, and spent much time looking outside windows.

• Mom woke up and missed the baby so she snuggled with him for a bit while I vacuumed.

• Then it was time for us to say good bye - the last visit is always hard. I will miss this family and hope mom will attend one of my Supporting Momma groups to keep in touch.

Family 2 - our second visit

• Mom nursed the baby while we talked about her weekend. She asked me a few questions about pumping and preparing to go back to work. She expressed her gratitude that breastfeeding was going so well and baby gaining good weight.

• Meanwhile dad went upstairs to take a quick power nap.

• I held and burped the baby and he fell asleep for 30 minutes.

• Then mom went to take a nap. Dad went outside to get some projects finished.

• Baby woke up and seemed to still be hungry as he rooted around and sucked on his fingers. I checked in with dad and he fixed a bottle. I fed the baby a bottle and burped him.

• Mom woke up and after checking in went outside to play with her daughter. I could hear them laughing.

• I changed the baby’s diaper and played on the floor with him.

• Mom and daughter decided to make cookies and while I kept asking what else could I do, she responded that having some free time to spend with her daughter was really helpful.

• Then mom nursed baby again and I finished the dishes in the sink.

• I played with the big sister and pushed her on the swing.

• Mom and I talked some more about baby development and mom asked some great questions. Discussion about how every baby is unique

I really love this job, and in fact, I usually cannot believe this is my “work”. While parenting is no doubt the hardest job, being a doula is often pure joy. Supporting parents, assisting with baby care, and encouraging parents to take care of themselves amidst an emotional and exhausting stage of life is completely awesome. My parting words to parents are often, “You are doing amazing, I know this can be really hard, please remember to take some time to care for yourself and rest”.

My goal is to invite all families to accept postpartum doula support! Keep in mind that there is funding on Cape Cod to pay for doula support!