What is a Doula and Why Should You Hire One for the Birth of Your Child? (2024)
What we’ll cover in this post:
What is a doula?
A doula is essentially a trained support person or companion. We typically think of doulas as support persons during labor, but you can hire a doula for:
Labor
Childbirth
Postpartum
Miscarriage
Stillbirth
Abortion
Any other significant health-related experience
A doula has a priority of providing you and your partner with comfort and support throughout your experience.
Difference between a doula and a midwife
A doula is not a clinical healthcare professional; a doula is there to provide you and your family with:
Comfort
Emotional assistance
Physical assistance
Education and information
Helping you and your partner advocate for yourselves
A midwife is a trained healthcare professional. A midwife is there to provide medical care for you during the prenatal period, during labor and childbirth, and during the immediate postpartum period.
A midwife is able to:
Order tests and administer medications
Perform vaginal/cervical exams
Check fetal heart tones, blood pressure, and other health procedures
Deliver babies vaginally
Assist with cesarean sections
Provide prenatal and postnatal care
A midwife may perform some hands-on labor support as a doula does (depending on where you’re birthing and how many patients they’re caring for), but their main role is as a clinician guarding the health and safety of you and your baby. That’s their first priority.
Benefits of hiring a doula
To keep it simple, the statistical benefits of hiring a doula is that you are:
Less likely to be medically induced
Less likely to need a cesarean section
Less likely to request pain medication during labor
Significantly more likely to establish a good breastfeeding/chestfeeding relationship
Doulas are becoming increasingly popular, especially in the labor, childbirth, and postpartum world.
While labor and birth classes are beneficial, you really cannot predict how things will go and you do not know how you are going to feel in those moments.
Having a doula not only provides you with support during a vulnerable time, but they can also help to take some pressure off of your birth partner(s) and help to support them too!
Hiring a doula prenatally
When you hire a doula, you will meet with them periodically so they know exactly what you desire during your labor/birth experience. Your doula will be very familiar with your birth plan long before you go into labor.
They can educate you on all your options, go over common comfort measures, and get to know you and your family as a whole. Often you don’t have as much time to build a relationship with your provider prenatally, and you likely will never have met your nurse. Having a doula is like having a trusted friend and guide along this journey.
Doula support during labor and delivery
Doulas help you find your voice during labor when it’s challenging to speak up. A doula can help remind you to ask questions, or that you can take time to think about and discuss your options if the situation isn’t emergent.
Labor can be really long or really short and those really long labors can be exhausting for your whole birth team. Doulas often can come to your home and labor with you there, getting you comfortable, coping with contractions, and helping you decide when to call your provider or head into your hospital or birth center.
Having a doula and a birth partner can help ensure that you are never alone during your labor (unless you want to be). Your partner and your doula can take “shifts” helping you through those tough contractions, getting you into different positions, providing pressure to your back/hips, massaging, and offering you drinks and snacks.
How long will my doula spend with me?
Doulas typically have 2-3 prenatal visits, unless they are also including a childbirth education class.
During birth, doulas typically spend 8-24+ hours with you depending on how fast your labor is and what type of support you need. They can labor with you at home, help you transfer to the hospital or birth center, and typically stay about two hours after baby is born. If your birth is particularly long, they may call in a backup doula to assist so you have a fresh face when everyone is exhausted!
Birth doulas typically also do 1-2 postpartum visits as well. They can talk you through your birth journey, see how you’re adjusting to the new baby, and refer you to other support if needed (lactation, pelvic floor physical therapists, chiropractic, massage, sleep specialists, etc.).
Postpartum doula support
A postpartum doula can be very beneficial to help take some pressure off of you as a new parent. Postpartum doulas can help with:
Cooking
Light cleaning
Helping to care for a sibling
Holding/feeding your baby while you shower/care for yourself
The night shift - They can come to your house and care for your baby while you get some sleep. This includes bringing your baby and/or your pump to you periodically throughout the night so you don’t have to get up.
How much does a doula cost?
The cost of a doula will depend on a few different things like:
Your location
The experience level of your doula
The time period you are hiring your doula for
Any other skills your doula is bringing (massage, Ayurvedic, etc.)
On average, the cost of a doula can range from $300 for a certifying doula and up to $3,000 for an experienced doula.
Some doulas will charge a flat fee for the labor and birth, and others will charge an hourly fee. If a birth doula is charging an hourly fee take that into consideration if your labor takes a really long time. You could be saddled with a large bill over something you can’t control. Hourly fees are pretty common among postpartum doulas.
In some cases, you may be able to pay for your doula with your HSA (Health Savings Account). If people are looking to buy you something for a baby shower, consider having them contribute to your doula fund! You won’t regret it!
Does insurance cover doulas?
The majority of insurance companies do not cover doula services.
The good news is that more insurance companies are coming around to paying for a portion, or all, of the cost of a doula.
There are some things you can try to convince your insurance company to help cover doula fees:
Pay your doula in full
Retrieve a receipt with all of your doulas information
Submit your receipt along with a claim form to your insurance company
Within a few weeks, you should receive a letter of either approval or denial. If the claim is denied due to inadequate information, you can talk with your doula and your insurance company to try to gather all of the necessary information before resubmitting.
How can I find a doula?
If you are looking for a doula, you can always ask around to some like-minded friends to see if they have someone they love.
Some OBGYNs, midwives, or birth centers will often have doulas that come highly recommended to them. They will be able to get you in touch with them.
If you do not have either of those resources, these three organizations train and hire doulas and they can help you find a doula near you:
How do I know a doula is the right fit for me?
Here are some questions to ask yourself when interviewing a doula:
Do they make me feel calm? Anxious?
Are you on the same page with the type of birth you’re aiming for?
How do they support your partner?
Could you potentially be naked in front of them?
Based on your needs, do they have experience needed? (i.e. VBAC, cesarean, pregnancy after loss, etc.)
Have they worked with your provider or hospital before?
Do I need a doula if I have a supportive partner?
While having a supportive partner is great during labor, sometimes it’s not always enough for everyone.
Having your partner there for you may make you feel more comfortable overall, but they are not professionally trained. A doula knows how to coach through painful contractions, help you get into different positions to help baby descend into the birth canal, and they are there to offer some physical support through those contractions.
The other great thing is that your doula can teach your partner these things too! If you are someone who has a pretty long labor, your doula and your partner can take turns supporting you while the other gets some rest; this way, someone is always there for you.
Also, there is a LOT of information to remember between childbirth classes and how your labor is progressing. A doula is a trained expert who can take the burden of “knowing everything and being everything” off your partner.
Do I need a doula if I’m birthing at a birth center or at home?
Having a doula at a birthing center or at home is just as important as having a doula for a hospital birth.
With a birth center, typically you’re still laboring at home for a good amount of time. A doula can help you get comfortable and know when to call your midwife or go in. Your midwives may be managing several labors at the same time and may not have as much to support you one-to-one. A doula is your personal labor support.
Even with home birth, your midwife typically doesn’t come until far along in active labor. Your doula can help get you comfortable and stay in contact with your midwife with updates on how your labor is progressing. Many doulas will also help get your house cleaned up after your birth, doing dishes, washing sheets, making food, and getting you settled.
Finally, in the event that you are transferred to the hospital for tools or medications, your doula can stay with you and help you advocate for what you want with hospital staff you may have never met before. Transfers can be stressful since it’s not what you planned, and a doula can help make that transition easier.
Will my hospital allow doulas?
It is always best to double check with your hospital prior to hiring a doula. Most hospitals have a number of visitors they allow in the room at a time. If you are someone who wants a crew of people in your labor room, you may have to sacrifice a person for your doula.
Also, make sure to be mindful of current COVID-19 policies as some hospitals have visitor restrictions if cases are high.
If you are having a cesarean section, sometimes getting hospitals to allow another person into the operating room is tough. In that instance, it is totally up to your anesthesiologist (the doctor who gives you medications to numb you) and your birth team at the time. Ask your doula what their track record is with being able to come into the operating room for a cesarean section.
The Takeaway
Hiring a doula is becoming increasingly popular; as it should be! Doulas can be an amazing help for multiple different health-related experiences like:
Labor
Childbirth
Postpartum
Miscarriage
Stillbirth
Abortion
What is a doula?
A doula is the support person you didn’t know you needed! A doula is a professionally trained support person or companion.
A doula can help:
Educate you on all your birth options
Coach you through the hardest parts of labor/childbirth
Assist you at home after birth
Help with your baby at night time
Help to show your partner how to support you
Help you reach your labor/childbirth goals
While a doula is not for everyone, it’s always a good idea to learn about them to see if a doula would be the right fit for you!
🤍 The Motherboard Team
