What
is a Doula?
The Greek word, "doula," which means "servant," has in recent years come
to describe a professional birth companion or postpartum companion who
is experienced in providing nonmedical physical and emotional support
to the childbearing woman and her partner. Women comforting women during
childbirth and postpartum is a skill as old as birth itself. Yet the professional
childbirth companion or "doula" is the newest member to the maternal health
field as an organized, certified profession.
What does a Doula do?
A doula can provide continuity of care from meeting with a woman and her
partner prenatally to accompanying them throughout the labor and birth
process and remaining in contact during the postpartum period. Her level
of support may include providing educational information on pregnancy,
birth, breastfeeding and parenting topics as well as her continuous physical
presence during labor. She is also experienced with assisting the mother's
first breastfeeding of her baby.
Specifically, during birth, the doula can remind or assist the mother with various comfort techniques she plans to use, such as breathing patterns, positions and mobility, relaxation and visualization, risks and benefits of specific options/procedures or interventions that may arise. She is also present for the time-honored tasks of holding the mother's hands, rubbing her back, wiping her face with a cool cloth, and encouraging and affirming her experience of childbirth as it unfolds. She celebrates the arrival of the baby and is an advocate for the parents' wishes with regard to newborn procedures and infant care.