Who a family hires for their pregnancy and birth process can ultimately make or break the experience. It’s vital you invest your time and energy into helping them find a supportive, experienced, and knowledgeable individual, regardless of preferences and demands. We discuss the role of a doula during and after childbirth, so you understand how they can best help you and the family.

Why Are Doulas Important?

Doulas hold a unique superpower in offering uncontested and reliable support services to each mother, birth partner, and family they assist. These highly skilled and trained individuals specialize in understanding the hormonal birth matrix and the need to create safe, ethical, and loving birth and postpartum environments.

Why does this matter? Sometimes, birth partners don’t know how to support the pregnant person, or a pregnant person may not have the wherewithal to express themselves with words. A doula can successfully empathize with a delivering mother and bridge the gaps in communication when necessary.

It’s best to partner and begin the work with a doula months before an expected delivery date to ensure all parties mesh well, and that you, as a team, can successfully meet the pregnant person’s wishes and needs during and after childbirth. It’s essential to note a doula does not replace or take precedence over you as a primary care provider and educated medical professional. Doulas are strictly support service individuals.

A Doula’s Role During Birth

When taking a closer look at the role of doulas during and after childbirth, the work truly begins during pregnancy. This is when a doula learns a pregnant person’s needs, communication styles, and personality to offer the best support.

During childbirth, the doula can offer emotional and physical support through words of affirmation, encouragement, and counterpoint massage. Additionally, the doula is responsible for honoring the pregnant person’s medical wishes when necessary.

A Doula’s Role After Birth

After childbirth, the doula’s support does not stop. In fact, the postpartum period is when families benefit the most from a doula’s offerings. Having a newborn in the home flips worlds upside down. But counting on the doula to tend to lingering housework, meal prep, or coaching the primary caregivers can often be the difference between developing postpartum depression and flourishing through recovery.

When partnering with a doula for a family’s birth experience, inquire about their postpartum offerings and support services. Some offer more than others, and their specific services will vary.

Cascade’s Doula Support Services

At Cascade Health Care, each family, doula, and primary care provider receive the appropriate support to achieve healthy childbirths. We offer a comprehensive inventory of birth kit supplies from birth pools, postpartum briefs, pregnancy balms, and much more. Shop our complete selection to supply all birth scenarios and outcomes.