Postpartum Doula Support and Newborn Care

Postpartum Doula Support and Newborn Care

It’s true what they say: babies don’t come with an instruction manual. But better yet, they CAN come with a postpartum doula! Learning how to care for your newborn as a brand new parent can be physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. Postpartum doulas support your whole family as you adjust to life with your newborn. They arrive at your door with an encyclopedia of knowledge, newborn care expertise, and a compassionate heart. Not sure exactly what a postpartum doula could do for you? Read on to find out the many different ways postpartum doula support can look. 

Newborn Care Expertise 

Postpartum doulas are experts in all things post-birth healing and newborn care. When you first hold your newborn in your arms, the love you feel will totally overwhelm you. When that tiny being cries and you don’t know what to do to help her, it can break your heart. Postpartum doulas can help you decipher your newborn’s cues and teach you different ways to soothe your baby. They can share advice like swaddling tips, how to bathe your baby, and comforting techniques like the 5 S’s

If you’re breastfeeding, it can be difficult to learn how to get a great latch. Postpartum doulas support you in breastfeeding comfortably by teaching different ways to hold your baby while nursing and techniques to encourage your baby to latch deeply. There’s nothing more comforting than the soothing way a postpartum doula gently tucks pillows around you and your baby as she latches, so you can totally relax as your baby nurses. 

If you’re bottle feeding, your postpartum doula can share helpful information like paced feeding techniques, formula storage guidelines, and signs your baby is hungry or full. During the day, your postpartum doula can take over baby care while you rest or shower, or she can tidy up around the house while you bond with your baby. During a night shift, postpartum doulas can stay with the baby in the nursery while you sleep and bring the baby to your to nurse. Alternatively, if bottle feeding, they can take over overnight newborn care for the night so you can rest uninterrupted.

Household Tasks 

It truly does take a village. Postpartum recovery, bonding with your baby, and learning newborn care is more than a full-time job. Household tasks like dishes, laundry, and meal prep are meant to be completed by other people, so the parents can focus on their little one. But most people today lack that extended family support. That’s where a postpartum doula comes in, re-creating that village support from the ground up. 

What can a postpartum doula do around the house while you bond with your baby?

  • Organizing and restocking the nursery
  • Cleaning, sanitizing, and preparing new bottles
  • Washing, folding, putting away infant’s laundry
  • Maintaining a daily log of infant’s feeding times and oz consumed, diaper changes, etc.
  • Light meal prep (making mom a sandwich, cutting up fruit for snacking)
  • Loading/unloading the dishwasher

Hiring a postpartum doula means you’re investing directly in more bonding time with your baby. The dishes and the laundry are endless, but this precious time with your newborn is fleeting. Planning ahead for household support during the postpartum phase is a wise choice. 

Evidence-Based Guidance

As a new parent, it’s inevitable that you will have about 1,000 new questions a day. The mental load of learning newborn care can be really heavy without professional guidance. Postpartum doulas answer parents’ questions, provide evidence-based learning materials, and help connect parents with other professional support, like therapy or chiropractic care, as needed. Not sure what to expect for postpartum bleeding? Unsure where to start with integrating healthy sleep habits? Have questions about umbilical cord care or post-circumcision care? Ask your postpartum doula. She will provide you with expert guidance suited to meet your family’s individual needs. 

Emotional Support

Having a new baby is an emotional roller coaster. Between sleep deprivation, postpartum hormones, and the huge new responsibility of new parenthood, it’s no wonder most new parents experience some degree of the baby blues. When you’re not crying alongside your baby as they fuss during the witching hour, you’re anxiously holding your breath as you learn to give them their first bath or sighing in frustration as they wake up to feed again after a way-too-short nap. A postpartum doula’s presence brings a contagious level of calm to your home. She’s been around a lot of new parents and new babies, and having an expert to confirm that your experience is normal is a huge relief. Your postpartum doula is also trained to recognize signs of Perinatal Mood Disorders like anxiety, depression, and OCD, and she can gently provide you with guidance on how to get the therapeutic support you need to feel your best. 

Whole-Family Postpartum Support

After spending just one shift with your postpartum doula, you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel in your new role as a parent. With a postpartum doula’s support, you’ll no longer need to rely on Google to teach you how to swaddle or know when your baby is full. Your home is no longer in shambles, you’ve eaten some nourishing meals, and gotten the chance to shower and rest, too.

Postpartum doulas support the whole family to come together as one cohesive unit. As you experience postpartum doula support in the weeks after birth, your confidence as a new parent will grow by leaps and bounds. Newborn care will no longer be a mystery, you’ll be better rested, and your new family will have the resources you need to thrive. 

Are you looking for a postpartum doula?

We offer postpartum doulas in Rhode Island, Postpartum doulas in Massachusetts, and Postpartum doulas in Connecticut.