What is so good about a POSTPARTUM DOULA?

You've just welcomed your beautiful baby into the world, every baby is different and YOU are different with the birth of each baby. Around the world, postpartum culture is diverse - where the most healthy of practices encourage healing, rest and the mother/family/baby connection. The new mother is fed, cared for and supported to get as much rest as possible. The postpartum period is given high importance and priority, as is the new Mother

In western culture, we have some of the most isolating practices and values - where we are conditioned to not ask for help, 'bounce back' and resume life as we knew it, with baby barely creating a wave in our lifestyle. We are engulfed in a culture of everything fast. The food, the recovery and the efficiency. We are in a pass/fail, good/bad society, where asking for help is seen as some kind of failure and people ask you if you have a "good baby?". This is the exact opposite of what many global (and healthy) postpartum traditions uphold and revere

For us in our so-called "developed world" after birth in hospital, stays are becoming shorter, visitors are restricted and new parents are being discharged sooner and sooner, often with only short postpartum home visits for barely a week or two. In the Private Hospital system, sometimes there is no follow up once you go home (other than the usual 6-week check) even after a caesarean birth. This is where having a Postpartum Doula is a solid investment

Everyone deserves to be held, celebrated and cared for after welcoming their baby into the world. Postpartum support can really fill in these huge gaps in maternity care and can help make those first weeks and months a positive experience. People who often choose a Postpartum Doula are first time parents, those having babies close in age, those who have a load of kids, those who have a partner who needs to go back to work immediately, for Defence personnel, FIFO partners, single parents or those who only have a small support network. A Postpartum Doula can give you the time and space to rest, shower, eat, feed and enjoy your baby. They also see all of those little things that need to be attended to and are a jack-of-all-trades. It's like having an extra Mum on hand

Helpful things they can attend to can include;

- Debrief with you about your birth experience and provide emotional support

- General tidying, dishes, washing (It never ends!)

- Breastfeeding support

- Newborn care

- Run you a herbal and essential oil foot spa

- Provide you with nutritious (or indulgent) snacks

- Establishing helpful baby care routines (*no baby training though - that's not my jam)

- Helping you transition to the 'new normal' of parenthood, creating opportunities for you to rest and gain confidence with your new baby

- Provide you with resources if you feel you need them and connect you with other health care professionals and community supports (Lactation Consultants, Chiro, women's health physio, social support groups etc...)

- Dropping to the shops to pick up anything you need

- Assist you with baby-wearing

- Cooking meals in your home

- Accompanying you out of the house (even keeping baby close by, while you have a mani/pedi, massage or hair appointment, shopping, health appointments etc...)

- Spending time with older siblings while you attend to baby or rest, or have a hot drink, or a shower, or do a cross-word... you do you!

Food is my love-language, I rarely turn up post birth without some kind of snack or meal. My favourites are lasagna, pasta bake, veg curry, Dahl, Risotto, chicken soup, bone broth, cookies, brownies, raw slice, cakes, sausage rolls, meatballs, bliss balls, semolina, rice or chia puddings...

If you are wanting to be wholeheartedly supported when your new baby arrives, please get in touch with me! I provide services to Cranbrook, Kendenup, Mount Barker, Albany, Denmark and in between (if you're outside of these areas, talk to me and we can see what can be arranged)