The name (pronounced Doo-la) is derived from a Greek word meaning servant or handmaiden. It was first coined by Dona Raphael, a medical anthropologist, in her 1973 book. "The Tender Gift" is a woman or women who help create a supportive physical and emotional climate around a new mother, facilitating a successful breast feeding experience. Today's doula can be a woman who attends the birth to help a woman labor or a woman who attends the mother in her home after the birth of her baby, caring for her needs as she recovers from childbirth. I want to focus on the doula work- that of in-home postpartum care.
After a baby is born, a family finds itself in a state of stressed-out bliss. Our culture has always acknowledged that the birth of a new baby is an especially sensitive time in the life of a family and traditionally friends, neighbors, and relatives have offered the family help and attention. New mothers have rarely been left alone with a brand new baby and no help. The fact for most women is that having a baby leaves them quite vulnerable and in need of a little mothering themselves.
A postpartum doula treats a new mother essentially as the mother treats a newborn: caring for her needs, nursing her to health, keeping a watch over her. Anything that fosters the mothers recovery is a doula's responsibility.
The unspoken message of a doula is "I'm here to support you as you heal yourself. I'll see that you do." She is a reassuring presence for even the most confident and experienced mother. Families count on her to organize the household, manage the shopping, cooking, childcare and chores, so that the household runs smoothly while the new mother recovers.
On any given day a doula may be a nanny, cook, or companion. She is the new and sorely needed link joining the medical and home healthcare system in a way that results in the best outcome for consumers of maternity care. The doula helps the new mother with diapers and clean clothes for the baby, makes her breakfast, and asks her how she slept. She notices how the baby is nursing, how many wet diapers there are, and the general condition of the mother. The doula also observes the color of the newborn, keeping an eye out for jaundice, and how often the baby is nursing. Breast feeding support is one of the major responsibilities of the doula., and one in which she can use the many skills she herself has learned as a mother.
In Holland- where midwifery care is standard and homebirth is considered normal- ten day live-in doula care is an integral part of a healthcare system which boasts the third best birthing outcome rates seen anywhere in the world. Insurance not only covers this care, but insists on it. Quite simply it facilitates the best outcome and is also cost-effective.
Doulas recognize that a birth takes only hours, but adjusting to life with a new baby takes much longer. Having a baby is an exciting yet stressful time. Plan before the birth for the mothering you will need after.