Postpartum Doulas Offer Help to Breastfeeding Moms
By Kim Seidel
As a postpartum doula, Dawn Thompson offers support for breastfeeding mothers at their homes. It’s an important part of her work, which also includes baby care instruction, from umbilical cord care to bathing and sleeping issues.
Postpartum doulas are taught breastfeeding basics. They can help Mom find different positions to feed Baby, and give her suggestions to increase milk supply. They also help prevent possible side effects of incorrect breastfeeding, such as cracked, bleeding nipples or more serious conditions such as mastitis. “Most of all, doulas will cook healthy meals for Mom, which is an essential item to healthy breastfeeding,” says Thompson, a certified labor and postpartum doula in Encinitas, Calif.
More families across the country are hiring postpartum doulas, knowledgeable, experienced companions who support women and their families through the transformation that a new baby brings. “The number of postpartum doulas has increased because of a recognition—among both families and doulas—that the need for support does not end as soon as the delivery is over,” says Paula Lantz, lead author of the first known national study of doulas at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and associate professor and chair of the department of Health Management and Policy.
“We know from a great deal of research that breastfeeding does not just come naturally for many new mothers and their infants,” she says. “Some women need extra support and guidance to make breastfeeding work. Postpartum doulas are quite well situated to provide the support, encouragement and information many new mothers need to be successful at breastfeeding.”
Basics and Beyond
Postpartum doulas work with clients in their homes, which brings many advantages to breastfeeding mothers. “Most people can relate with taking a class and thinking they’ve got it down, only to get home and find they don’t have a clue,” says Thompson, a doula for two years. “Parents learn to do things in real time with their real babies, unlike classes with a doll that doesn’t wiggle, squirm or cry.”
Doulas supply parents with tips on breastfeeding that may have taken weeks, if not months, to figure out. “Most often I find the main challenge that new moms have is too much information,” Thompson says. “Breastfeeding moms are drowned in information from everyone, including well-meaning family members whose information is often outdated.” Even when they’re still in the hospital, new moms listen to different nurses with varying opinions about how she should breastfeed.
“A doula will help moms find out what works best for them and their baby,” Thompson says. Every new breastfeeding mom has different needs, and doulas tailor their work to meet those needs.
Tracy Hanson, a labor, delivery and postpartum doula in Oceanside, Calif., performs a wide array of services for breastfeeding mothers and their families. Hanson helps to ensure the baby has a good latch onto the mother’s breast and ensures the feeding is done in a comfortable environment and that the mom gets plenty of fluids, which is important for breastfeeding.
Doulas also help with light household chores, make meals, run errands, suggest the importance of naps and good sleep and provide overall encouragement for the mother to remain calm and relaxed. “I help to build a new mom’s confidence in her abilities to parent her new baby,” Hanson says. “Breastfeeding is part of parenting.
Through her experiences as a doula, Thompson has seen many moms give up breastfeeding too soon. “Breastfeeding can be really challenging the first six weeks, but after that point, it really does become easy and wonderful,” she says. “If you just say to yourself, ‘I’m going to do this for at least six weeks,’ you will almost always find yourself well beyond that point.”
A doula helps breastfeeding mothers through these first months with Baby. “I cannot emphasize how important it is for a new breastfeeding mom to be calm, relaxed and enjoy her new role as Mom,” Hanson says. “The early days of parenting are scary, overwhelming, exhausting and sometimes never-ending, but they are so important to the long-term relationship Mom and Baby will have.”
Newborns require anywhere from 16 to 20 hours of sleep each day. This is an area many parents don’t understand. Without adequate sleep, a newborn will not breastfeed as easily, Hanson says.
Finding a Doula
Many families don’t live close to extended family who can help with a new baby. Doulas fill that role. Thompson and Hanson agree the best way to find a postpartum doula is through word of mouth, a personal referral.
“When looking for a doula, interview at lease two,” Thompson says. “Find someone that will support your parenting preference. Then make sure you connect with her. She could have all the experience in the world, but if you don’t connect, it will not be as good of an experience as it could be.
To find a doula in your area, check out national organizations. “Moms should look for doulas that have been through training, have newborn experience and are passionate about being a doula,” Hanson says.
The amount of time a doula spends with a family varies greatly. With families of multiples, a doula often works for several months. A family with one child typically needs a few hours a week for about two weeks, Thompson says.
Rates for postpartum doula services also vary across the country, from about $25 an hour to more for multiples and evening hours.
“I feel the benefits are different for every family, but having a doula provides support—plain and simple,” Hanson says. “And when a new family has support, they can be the best parents possible and enjoy the newborn to the fullest.”
