What is a doula anyway?

Doula is a word than many people are familiar with, but do you know what a doula's actual role is in the perinatal period?

The word doula comes from the Greek word meaning "one who serves." As long as people have been birthing, there have been doulas, even if they were not labeled as such. In fact, the word "doula" did not come into popular use until the 1960s/1970s. In current times, there has been a distinct shift in the recognition of the value of labor and postpartum support.

Today we define a doula as an experienced or trained professional who offers informational, physical, and emotional support before, during, and/or after birth. Some doulas, called birth doulas, focus on labor support, and that often includes conversation and discussion in the prenatal period as well as a check-in in the immediate postpartum period. Other doulas, called postpartum doulas, focus on care after birth and providing extensive support to the family in the first weeks of the newborn's life. Some doulas focus on supporting pregnancy loss, and some are trained in all of these areas and are often referred to as full-spectrum doulas.

Doulas are NOT the same as midwives. We work well with midwives since we generally share similar views of maternity care, but we do NOT take the place of midwives. Midwives are clinical providers who, in addition to providing some level of informational, emotional, and physical support, also perform tasks like taking vital signs, doing cervical checks, deciding on and administering medication, checking fetal heart tones, etc. Doulas are not trained or licensed to do these activities.

In the next posts, I will elaborate more on the four pillars of doula care: informational support, physical support, emotional support, and advocacy.

Share an experience that made you glad you hired a doula!