What type of Doula you want and/or need will depend upon your personal situation, needs and desires. You may find yourself wanting a Doula that has multiple abilities and specializations to cover all of your needs.
Here are some of the different types of Doulas and their specializations:
- Birth Doula: Provides planning and resource assistance during the pregnancy in preparation for the birth experience as well as support during the birth itself. Usually Doulas that focus solely on the birth will provide minimal assistance after the birth. For more information about my Birth Services, click here.
- Postpartum Doula: Provides assistance during the postpartum period. This can range from assisting with problems with lactation, digestion or sleep, helping both mother, baby, partner and family to the new living situation as well as helping to prevent or mitigate postpartum depression and anxiety. Postpartum Doulas can also be very instrumental in helping families build healthy habits and routines essential for positive growth. For more information about my Postpartum Services, click here.
- Lactation Doula: A Doula that specializes in lactation issues will be able to assist both mother and baby in learning how to feed and eat. Although hospitals provide some support for learning to breast feed, many lactation issues aren’t discovered until after mother and baby have returned home and need additional support, resources and tips to ensure proper nutrition. Lactation Doulas will also be able to advise on what types of food the mother can add or eliminate in order to promote proper digestion, overall health and good sleeping habits for the baby. For more information about my Lactation Services, click here.
- Sleep Doula: A Doula trained in infant sleeping techniques will be able to best assist families in developing the proper nutrition and environment to promote healthy sleeping habits in their infants. This support can either be preventative, creating the proper patterns early on to avoid problems in the future, or reactive, helping to reverse habits, dietary and environmental factors that prohibit good sleeping paterns. For more information about my Sleep Services, click here.
- Multiples Doula: A Doula that specializes in assisting families with multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) has additional experience to assist with this most unique challenge. Additionally, multiples have greater incidences of sleeping and lactation problems so a Doula thatspecializes with multiples will be able to greatly minimize the number of problems experienced as the multiples begin to grow. For more information about my Multiples Service, click here.
