Mothering the Mom offers professional in-home postpartum support for the new mother and her family in the weeks and months following birth.
What is a Postpartum Doula?
A postpartum doula is an experienced woman who comes into the home of a new mom and provides educational, emotional, and physical support so that the new mom can rest, bond with her new baby, and transition into her new role.
Educational: a postpartum doula provides breastfeeding assistance, instruction in postpartum recovery, newborn care and comfort, information and referrals.
Emotional: a postpartum doula offers the emotional support of her reassuring presence. She provides empathy for a new mom's frustrations, answers and comfort for her concerns and an opportunity for the new mom to debrief from her birth experience. She is trained to recognize signs of postpartum depression and can offer support, information, and referrals if necessary.
Physical: a postpartum doula performs light housekeeping, laundry, meal preparation, newborn care, sibling care and errands so that the new mom can focus on resting, recovering from the birth and feeding her new baby without other physical demands.
The presence of a postpartum doula can
- reduce the incidence of postpartum depression,
- increase the rate of successful breastfeeding, and
- enhance all relationships in the family as they welcome their new little one.
For more information about the benefits of a postpartum doula, please go to the DONA (Doulas of North America) website to read their position paper on this topic: