What is a Doula?

The word “Doula” is a Greek word that means “woman’s servant”

Over the years it has come to mean "to serve".  

Pronounced, "doo-la".  

Doulas are trained and experienced support workers (and are often mothers themselves)

They do not replace but rather work alongside your midwife or doctor.  

A Doula "mothers the mother" and provides continuity of care with physical, emotional, and informational support during the postnatal period, to both the mother and her partner (if she has one, complimenting and reinforcing their role).

Whether you're a first-time mum who has never even held a baby or an experienced mum with 4 older siblings. A doula can help.

We can teach you how to swaddle your baby, or how to get a proper latch while breastfeeding. We can help with settling techniques or effective burping positions.

Helping with the first few bath times and even how to change a nappy working around those tiny bodies and that huge umbilical cord clamp.

There is so much for a new parent to learn and adapt to and babies don't come with an instruction manual.

Learning on the job when you haven't slept in days and the baby is so loud you can't hear yourself think is tough.

That's where the role of a postpartum doula comes in.

Research released by Klaus Kennell (authors of Mothering the Mother: How a Doula Can Help You Have a Shorter Easier and Healthier Birth) shows that having a Doula can offer:

Improved breastfeeding success

Decrease in postpartum depression

Greater maternal satisfaction

Better mother-infant interaction

See also Empath ...

Empaths are highly sensitive individuals, who have a keen ability to sense what people around them are thinking and feeling. Psychologists may use the term empath to describe a person that experiences a great deal of empathy, often to the point of taking on the pain of others at their own expense. However, the term empath can also be used as a spiritual term, describing an individual with special, psychic abilities to sense the emotions and energies of others.

There are many benefits of being an empath. On the bright side, empaths tend to be excellent friends. They are superb listeners. They consistently show up for friends in times of need. They are big-hearted and generous. Empaths also tend to be highly intuitive and emotionally intelligent.