The Top 3 Reasons Why You Want a Doula

1. Support
Doulas provide support at a time when you can feel alone and overwhelmed. They can help you stay comfortable, help meet your emotional needs, and even shorten your labor time. Women who have doulas typically have shorter labors with fewer complications.

Doulas not only provide support for you, they provide support for your significant other too. Many husbands, previously skeptical about doulas, have become firm believers after experiencing the care of a doula first hand. Doulas put husbands at ease, are knowledgeable about birth and can assure your spouse when things are actually totally normal, and they can even give your husband a much needed bathroom break when you’re in the thick of your labor.

After birth, many doulas continue to provide support to new parents by coming to the home and helping with household chores, meal preparation, and answering any questions the new parents might have about life with a newborn.

2. Assist
Doulas provide active assistance to moms in labor by suggesting helpful positions and pain management techniques. Doulas can give a woman confidence and put her at ease in what can be a very stressful situation.

Doulas also assist with newborn care in the postpartum period. They can help moms establish breastfeeding, show you how to swaddle, or even help you give baby that first bath at home.

3. Advocate
In the midst of labor, it can be hard to advocate for yourself. It can feel tiresome or lonely. Some moms start to question their choices in the midst of hard labor. Having a doula there to advocate for you and with you can be helpful in achieving the kind of birth you want.

I’ve often described labor as a battle. It is, at times, what I think it would be like to go to war. A doula can be so helpful in those sorts of situations. She will be like your sidekick, your wing woman; she will always have your back.

Have you hired a doula? What was your experience? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section.