User talk:Mickayonna/Postpartum Doula

Postartum Doula
Postpartum Doula typically begins providing care in the home after the birth. Such care might include cooking for the mother, breastfeeding support, newborn care assistance, errands, light housekeeping, etc. Such care is provided from the day after the birth, providing services through the first six weeks postpartum to a year postpartum - especially in cases when mothers are suffering from postpartum depression, children with special needs require longer care, or there are multiple infants.

Types of doulas
Postpartum doulas are hired to support the woman after birth, usually in the family's home. They are skilled in offering families evidence-based information and support on breastfeeding, emotional and physical recovery from childbirth, infant soothing, mother-baby bonding, and coping skills for new parents. They may also help with light housework, coordinate freshly made nutritious meals for the mother, and help incorporate older children. The terms of a postpartum doula's responsibilities are decided between the doula and the family.

Some hospitals and foundations offer programs for volunteer community doulas. Volunteer doulas play an important role for women at risk for complications and those facing financial barriers to additional labor support. All doulas offer continuous encouragement and reassurance to laboring women. Volunteer doulas can encourage mother-based birth advocacy and motivate a woman to feel in control of her pregnancy

Postpartum doulas in the US and Canada
In the United States and Canada, postpartum doulas are not required to be certified, however certification is available through several different organizations. A postpartum doula provides:


 * Assistance with breastfeeding education and offers tips and informational support
 * In-home support for the mother, baby and family, anywhere from a couple days postpartum to several months.
 * Informed and helpful newborn care help and assistance.
 * Support for the partner so that s/he can support and nurture the mother, and the newborn baby.
 * Evidence-based information.
 * May also offer help in the following areas: household care, help with childcare/sibling care, meal preparation, errand running, and other tasks that may be requested.

Benefits
Studies have found that birth companions, of which doulas are one type, offer numerous benefits both to the mother and child. Women with support have a reduction in the duration of labor, less use of pain relief medications, lower rates of operative vaginal delivery, and, in many studies, a reduction in caesarian deliveries. Newborns in supported births have lower rates of fetal distress and fewer are admitted to neonatal intensive care units. In addition, one study found that 6 weeks after delivery, a greater proportion of doula-supported women, compared to a control group, were breastfeeding, and these women reported greater self-esteem, less depression, and a higher regard for their babies and their ability to care for them. These results are similar to findings that support from a female relative during childbirth has similar effects.

One study found doula support without childbirth classes to be more helpful than childbirth classes alone, as measured by levels of emotional distress and self-esteem evaluated at an interview four months after birth. In particular, it was noted that women in the doula-supported group reported their infants as less fussy than the group attending childbirth class without any doula support.