About Doulas
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What is Doulas?

Doula is a Greek word meaning woman servant or caregiver. It now refers to an experienced woman who offers emotional and practical support to a woman (or couple) before, during and after childbirth. A woman who mothers the mother.

Doulas are trained and experienced in childbirth, although they may or may not have given birth themselves. They have a good knowledge and awareness of female physiology (often their background training is midwifery or antenatal teaching) but the doula is not supporting the mother in a clinical role - that is the job of the midwife/medical staff.

What does a Doula do?

The services offered by a doula vary greatly according to the needs of the mother-to-be / parents-to-be. A doula's role has to be flexible to fit in with the given situation e.g. the type of support will differ for a first time mum to that of a woman who has children already. Every birth is unique and therefore every woman's experience is also unique.

Before childbirth, the doula will usually meet with the mother (or couple) at least once face to face, and then perhaps be available by phone or for additional meetings if necessary. Duding labour, the doula is able to offer help and suggestions on comfort measures such as breathing, relaxation, movement and positioning. The doula can also encourage the father to participate in the birth to a level at which he feels comfortable. Doulas most important role is to provide nurturing, continuous support and reassurance.

After childbirth, the doula may follow up with a couple of postnatal visits to help the new mum settle at home with her new baby, or alternatively, the mother may decide to employ a postnatal doula for a period of 6 - 8 weeks. Sometimes this will mean that the mother employs a different doula to the one that attended the birth as not all birth Doulas can offer extended post natal support, whereas there are Doulas who only offer this type of post natal support.

Why is there a need for a Doula?

As childbirth has moved from home to hospital, a vital element of care has been lost from the whole process. Gone are the days where a woman would have continuous support from one carer throughout her labour.

It used to be the case that the womenfolk within the immediate and extended family (mothers/sisters/grandmother etc...) would be on hand to provide the nurturing role for the new mother, to guide by experience and help with the practicalities that need to be performed before, during and after a woman gives birth to a baby. The concept of the community midwife developed, but due to lack of resources, this service is steadily declining in many areas.

Nowadays many women feel that they have to be in hospital to give birth to their baby where it is much more likely that a birth will be medically managed and intervention methods, such as Caesarian section or forceps, will be used.

Research has shown that having a doula present at a birth:

Shortens first-time labour by an average of 2 hours
Decreases the chance of Caesarean section by 50%
Decreases the need for pain medication
Helps fathers participate with confidence
Increases success in breast-feeding

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About Doulas» This page has been viewed 519 times