Why Hire a Postpartum Doula?
Your baby is here! You’ve passed all the newborn checks at the hospital and been discharged. You arrive home, you put down the carseat and then you and your partner look at each other.
Oh. Crap.
Now what!?! When you were at the hospital, there was a nurse call button if you weren’t sure of anything. But there isn’t a call button at home. Maybe call family? Or ask ChatGPT? (we really don’t recommend that) Maybe you just wing it and hope for the best? Or maybe, you were prepared and you already have a postpartum doula scheduled to come and support you as you recover from birth and adjust to parenthood.
What is a Postpartum Doula and what do they do?
Similarly to a birth doula, postpartum doulas are there for non-medical support. But their support is often much more wide-ranging than a birth doula, because the postpartum experience is so vast and different for everyone. In the postpartum period, support can look like anything from a shoulder to cry on, to meal prep, to infant care, and even education. It truly is unique to every family. However, there are two main “categories” for postpartum doulas - daytime support and overnight support.
Daytime Doulas
When a postpartum doula is there for day support, they are often providing the most comprehensive kind of care. While they are absolutely caring for the baby, they are often also doing other tasks. Help with laundry or changing the sheets on the bed, light meal prep, sanitizing bottles, helping with breastfeeding or pump support, and being a listening ear are all on the agenda. Parents may use this time to get out of the house and run errands, ask for help to figure out baby wearing, or just take a nap knowing their newborn is in capable hands. Daytime support can also be ongoing, there is no timeline on when it has to stop. Most doulas will continue to provide postpartum care as long as a family needs their support, especially during the day! That means the care the doula provides will evolve over time. What might have been education and breastfeeding support in the beginning may evolve into a parent going to a yoga class once a week and coming home to an already prepared light lunch and sleeping baby.
Overnight Support
Nighttime support can look quite different from daytime. Usually the goal for parents is to maximize their sleep when there is a doula there. This often means more focus on infant care, rather than meal prep or tidying the kitchen. That doesn’t mean that a postpartum doula won’t throw a load of laundry in, or make sure all the bottles and pump parts are ready to go for the next day, they absolutely will! But it does mean that there is often less “talk time”, education, fewer baby baths, and more of an emphasis on everyone in the home getting a good nights rest.
Some families worry that having a doula, whether during the day or at night, will impact their bond with their baby or even their ability to breastfeed. And we’ve honestly seen some doulas out there suggesting this as well. But we could not disagree more. In fact, the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health found that the use of postpartum doula support improved mental health outcome. And a 2025 study analysis in the Journal of Breastfeeding Medicine found that doula support was associated with improved breastfeeding outcomes. We also know from studies that new parents lose up to 2-3 hours of sleep a night, and that disrupted sleep and sleep deprivation can continue for up to six years after the birth of a baby. Sleep is essential for physical health, mental health, milk production, and mood.
So what should you look for when thinking about hiring a postpartum doula?
what qualifications and additional trainings do they have?
what feeding methods do they support? (Ideally, they will support both breast and bottle feeding)
how do they feel about sleep training and can they support you if you choose to sleep train?
what is their availability?
what do they do if they are sick before a shift?
are they covered by an insurance plan like Carrot
Hiring a postpartum doula can feel like the ultimate luxury. Someone to care for your baby while you sleep? Our grandparents would never! Except…our grandparents very often did. Postpartum doulas are filling the roles today that historically were filled by mothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, and neighbours. The biggest difference between doulas and family is that doulas are trained on the most up-to-date recommendations and methods, while grandparents may not be. Doulas also won’t judge you for choosing to do something they wouldn't do.
As postpartum doulas, we love supporting families as they find their footing. Whether your first baby or your fifth baby, everyone can benefit from the care and support that postpartum doulas provide. If you’d like to schedule a consult to discuss postpartum care, book a call here.