Postpartum Doula
Becoming a parent is the most exciting and important transition of your life. Along with the excitement may come questions, uncertainty and overwhelm. This is where we come in. An experienced doula provides daytime and/or overnight support to improve your postpartum experience. She offers information on your newborn as well as ‘on the job’ training for your new role as parents. Many of us go to school for our profession but we don’t expect to start our new job without someone there to train us. Your Doula is that person.
Someone to ask questions and learn from their years of experience makes this a smoother and more enjoyable experience. You do not have to just survive your baby’s first few weeks-you can actually enjoy it.
How your Doula can support you:
- Practical, hands on tools for new parents
- Someone to discuss your birth experience with who really wants to hear how you feel about it
- Baby care techniques such as different burping positions, quick ways to change baby and walk you through various ways to bathe your baby
- Partners are given suggestions on how to be supportive during this time of transition and healing
- Becoming a parent can be difficult emotionally, your doula is there to listen to how you are feeling and give you guidance
- Hands on support and tips for feeding your baby
- Extra set of hands to allow parents the ability to shower or grab a nap
- Spend time with baby so parents can sleep or spend quality time with older children
- Nighttime can be a challenge for new parents; Overnight doula support can allow parents to get sleep and reassurance during this time
- Throw in a load of laundry for you or do light tidy up so you can focus on your baby
- Meal preparation and making sure mom is eating well and taking care of herself so she can take care of baby
Postpartum hours are flexible and booked a week at a time to allow you to decide how best to use them. You can choose a minimum of 5 hour shift during the day or 8 hours overnight. If you’re an expecting or new parent and want more support for your postpartum experience, choose from one of our three doula packages below.
Curious about creating your own package? A la carte support and flex care packages may also be possible depending on availability. Contact us for a complimentary consultation today.
I Need a Helping Hand
$888 plus HST ($37/hr)
- 100 hours of daytime or nighttime support
- Perfect for families who want short term support
I Need a Hug
$
- 200 hours of daytime or nighttime support
- Perfect for families looking for a little more support
I Need a Full Embrace
$1792 plus HST ($32/hr)
- 350 hours of daytime or nighttime support
- Perfect for families who really want to start their journey as parents on the best foot
Meet the Postpartum Team
Frequently Asked Questions
Postpartum Doula Support
How is a postpartum doula different than a night nanny or night nurse?
One of the biggest differences between a night nurse and a Postpartum Doula is that the focus with a night nurse is to take care of the baby whereas the focus with a Postpartum Doula is to take care of the family. We are also focused on showing you many tricks and tools that you can use when your Doula is not with you. We are the on the job trainers for this journey of parenthood. Our job is to build your confidence to a point where we have worked ourselves out of the job.
How does the doula support me overnight if I am breastfeeding?
Your Doula will sleep in the same area as your baby and come to get you when baby wakes up. During feedings your Doula can answer your feeding questions and help to make each session efficient. She will also grab you a drink and snack, burp and change baby and then soothe baby back to sleep. This allows you to go straight back to sleep and maximize the time in between feedings to get quality rest.
What if I plan to bottle feed?
We support all feeding methods and focus on finding out what your desires are and adjust our support and guidance accordingly.
How does the doula know what to do to help me?
The nice thing about hiring a Doula is that you don’t have to figure out what the Doula will do. With our experience we are experts in anticipating your needs. We will ask you questions when we arrive and then help come up with a plan to expand your support for that shift. Things change as your baby grows so we continue to give you ideas on how to best use your hours of support.
How is doula support different than family and friends?
Family and friends are an amazing support after you have had a baby. The challenge is that many of them do not have the same experience or unbiased support that a Doula can provide. Your Doula is your guide to find “your” way through this journey. Friends and family tend to share many of their opinions and may feel that the way they did things are the right way. One of the biggest things we hear from our clients is that the support that they received from their Doulas allowed them to better communicate their needs to their family and found them a lot more helpful as a result.
What are the minimum hours we need to use for a shift?
During daytime hours of 8 AM-8 PM, we provide a minimum shift of 4 hours. Overnight shifts are a minimum of 8 hours and tend to be from 10pm-6am or 11pm-7am. Many of our clients prefer longer support shifts, as there is no maximum restrictions, we can create a timing that works best for your family.
How do I schedule my hours?
Scheduling your hours with our team is so easy. Simply send an email to [email protected] and let us know what you would like to schedule for the week. We then get in touch with our team and then confirm those hours with you.
Testimonial
We acquired Helping Hands Doula postpartum services for the birth of our second child and it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made! Despite being experienced parents, juggling the constant needs of a newborn and toddler with all of our daily household responsibilities was extremely challenging. Having the doulas provide support a few days a week to help with household chores, meal prep and watching our newborn daughter, really helped maintain our sanity, helped us recharge and allowed us one on one quality time with our toddler (which can be difficult to achieve!). It was so nice to have someone come over to look after this very tired Mom and give her a break for a change! The overnight shifts were a tremendous lifesaver as well, giving everyone much needed continuous rest and energy. Their breadth of knowledge and experience were helpful refreshers and great advice for us to ensure quality care for our daughters. Kristi, Jessica and team are all amazing and our family is so grateful for everything they’ve done for us. I wish we knew about them for our first born and would definitely recommend them for first-time parents and growing families!
Request a Consultation
If you’re an expecting or new parent and want more support for your postpartum experience, click below to request an appointment.
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