Role of the Postpartum Doula

Written By Kaitlyn .

The role of a doula is timeless. Generations, upon generations, upon generations of women have cared for other women in pregnancy, birth, postpartum and beyond. This support is so natural and so needed, but not every woman gets the care she needs.

In addition to this, so much emphasis is placed on the pregnancy and birth, but rarely is special attention placed on postpartum. The prenatal doctor visits, the childbirth education classes, the baby shower, the birth plan - all of these things come before the baby is born. Nowadays, everyone wants to have a birth plan, which is an important tool to have, but what about a postpartum plan? What comes after caring for the baby and mother for nine long months? What comes after the baby is born, you spend 2-4 days in a hospital, and then you arrive home?

This is what happens: women are sent home and thrown deep into the battlefield trying to keep another human alive, recover physically, juggle a mix of emotions, perhaps integrate older siblings into the new family dynamic and a host of many other things. At six weeks postpartum you visit your ob-gyn, but what care is there before and after that point into the fourth trimester and beyond? In the United States, there is a deep, dark vortex of nothing. A complete black hole of support for women during postpartum.

I don’t say this to be dramatic or to scare you or to be a downer, but it is the reality of the culture and system in which we currently live in the US. However, for many cultures this is not the norm and special attention is given to the mother during this sacred and vulnerable time (check out my other article about postpartum in other cultures). 

So what is the role of a postpartum doula? A postpartum doula provides physical, emotional and informational support to a woman and her family during the postpartum period. The International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA) has identified the “Eleven Domains of Postpartum Care” which include the following:

  1. Emotional support

  2. Physical comfort

  3. Self-care

  4. Infant care

  5. Informational support

  6. Advocacy

  7. Referrals

  8. Partner/father support 

  9. Support mother/father with infant

  10. Support mother/father with sibling(s)

  11. Household organization

In other words, a postpartum doula is focused on “mothering the mother” which encompasses nurturing, educating, assessing and referring. The main priority of the postpartum doula is to nurture the mother, as well as support other family members. Educating refers to providing practical information that is relevant to the mother and baby. Assessing or the act of noticing what is going on, is central to the role of a postpartum doula. Our eyes and ears are adept at assessing the situation at hand and then supporting the family with what they need most. As doulas, we are generalists (unless we’ve received training in some type of specialisation), and this is where we make referrals to professionals who specialize in areas that are too specific for our generalist knowledge, such as healthcare providers, mental health professionals, or lactation consultants. 

As a result of nurturing the mother, research has shown that postpartum support provides families with increased confidence in their new roles, a greater satisfaction in the breastfeeding experience as well as the duration, and fewer incidences of postpartum depression, to name a few. 

The postpartum period is a vulnerable and volatile time in a woman’s life. But postpartum isn’t just the first 6-8 weeks or the fourth trimester - it’s the rest of your life. You don’t go back to the woman you once were - you rise into someone new. Having a birth plan and support is important but having a postpartum plan and support is equally important too. 

Kaitlyn .