What's The Difference Between A Birth Doula and A Postpartum Doula?
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Kaely Harrod 0:00
Hello and welcome back to Kaely Daily. Today's question is what is the difference between a birth doula and a postpartum doula? This is Kaely Daily, the bi weekly podcast about all things doula Tips and Tips where we answer one question about pregnancy, labor or postpartum or lactation, in order to have your journey in this parenting world be just a little bit more informed and filled with consent. Hello and welcome back to Kaely Daily. My name is Kaely Harrod. I am the host and author and educator and doula behind the Kaely Daily Doula Podcast, and we are starting a brand new series. Guys. My earrings will not stay in my ear. That was what that sounded if you're not watching on YouTube, and saw that earring fall, why the heck, man? Okay. All right, I'm gonna not shake my head around so much and that'll help.
Kaely Harrod 0:59
We are starting into our second series for this second season. That is all about doulas, and my aim in this series is to answer some questions that I've gotten about doulas and kind of work through those in a systematic way so that you can reference them and go back through them as that's helpful to you. So this first question is just purely what's the difference between a birth and postpartum doula because they are slightly different, and I talked about doulas and just use that word, but I think it's important to distinguish between the two so that I can explain and answer some questions about the two as we go through this series.
Kaely Harrod 1:39
Now, I also want to take a minute to acknowledge that there are lots of different types of doulas. So there are something called full spectrum. doulas, there are abortion, doulas, there are even death, doulas, and there are fertility, doulas. So this is not that these are not the only two types, right. But these are the two types that I'm going to be focusing on for this series. So that's why I'm I'm really like honing in on them. So first of all, that the like educational and emotional physical support of a doula is present in both forms. It just looks slightly different, of course, right? A birth doula is someone who usually walks through pregnancy with you has some component of prenatal education or support, and then is with you during delivery or is virtually available to you during delivery depending on the scenario and what you've like, hired for, et cetera. And then usually sees you excuse me sees you or talks to at some point in the in the early postpartum time. So the first like week or two after you give birth in most cases. So that's not someone that like comes and teaches you how to take care of your baby or does like, you know, a shift with the baby overnight or any of that. That is someone who's really just focusing on the labor and delivery portion of this journey, okay? Now, a postpartum doula is someone who is then coming after that portion, and helping with newborn care or education or logistical support. And postpartum care can look so different doula to doula. So I want to kind of talk about some of the flavors for lack of a better term of what postpartum doulas typically do and kind of what we emphasize. Some of us do daytime care. So I'm a doula who does mostly daytime care, I don't do overnights, I sometimes do like evenings, or like, you know, early, early nighttime kind of stuff, but not like a, an eight hour overnight shift where I stay at your house. That means my work is, is really heavy on the educational piece. And also includes some logistical stuff. So I have families that like have me come in to help them learn how to wear their baby, or how to bathe their baby, or how to set up their their nursery, or how to make sure that they have diapers in every room and like to kind of watch them do stuff and let them know if they could do it more efficiently, or if they're doing it safely, etc. So there's a good chunk of education in that. And then there's a good chunk of reassurance in that. The other thing is sometimes it's a matter of like literally just having another set of hands, you know, so sometimes I'll go to a shift and and my client says to me, I just want to shower and eat and nap by myself. And I'm like, that's reasonable, right? Like, that's a great idea. And so then in that case, I'm like hanging out with the baby and maybe changing their diapers and putting on their clothes and like helping them go down for a nap or something like that, right? Oftentimes, in that scenario, I want my clients to pretend like the baby's not even home like I want them to pretend like they have no responsibility assigned to the baby at the moment. So they can actually have some off time. My reasoning behind that is, as a parent myself, I feel the mental load of parenting almost always right? There are very few times when you can actually disconnect yourself from that. And so my goal in that is for someone who is just in the thick of taking care of a newborn, and in this like early part of learning about newborns even to be able to really come to that space and say, Okay, I know that Kaely knows what she's doing, right? I know, this postpartum doula that I hired, like, is a professional is trained, knows when to like be concerned about something or not, etc. And so, in that, I can really give over my child to them for this short stint of time and go relax and not have to mentally think about things not have to worry about a diaper or burping or fussy naptime, any of that. Because I know that my doula is doing what I've asked them to do. They're taking good care of my baby and I can just mentally relax. So that's a huge piece of it. So oftentimes, doula care can go together. So I have plenty of doulas that are birth and postpartum clients of mine, doula clients, I should say, not doulas, and then some of us as doulas kind of work in one world or the other. So for me, for instance, I work birth and postpartum I do not do overnight care as a postpartum doula. So when I have clients that really want overnight care as a postpartum doula, I refer them to some dear friends of mine, some colleagues that I have, who do that kind of care. And then we either work in conjunction with each other, or they find out that that other person is a better fit for their postpartum care, because they can have some continuity between nights and days. Now, overnight, postpartum care is primarily helping you get more sleep, right? So there is sometimes an educational component. But the ideal is that like, if you're feeding the baby, for a person who's lactating, for instance, that you're up for the feeding, and then nothing else, right. So you don't have to sue the you don't have to burp, you don't have to diaper. You don't have to do anything else. You could just sleep in between feedings. If you're bottle feeding a baby, you actually can just sleep the whole time, right? And then the postpartum doula is doing bottles and diapers and burping and everything. So that's really very much about your sleep. And that's the primary focus of that.
Kaely Harrod 7:34
So this is the first super basic episode about doulas. And so from here, you should expect a couple of like, you know, a couple of weeks, I would say of doula questions. If you have a specific doula question, please send it to me. I'm happy to throw it in. I kind of record a last minute addition to the series. Or if you resonate with these questions, and you have follow up questions, please connect with me, I would love to chat with you about that, and get a sense of where you are and kind of what you're dealing with in this journey of pregnancy and birth and postpartum. So today's episode is nice and short, but I'll be back soon for the next episode on this series, all about when to hire and how to hire etcetera, etcetera. So, in the meantime, I do wish you and consent build well informed for the experiences. These episodes are edited and produced by Haley her rod as I'm sure you can probably tell, and our amazing music is credited in the show notes as well. So we look forward to seeing you on the next episode. And in the meantime, have a wonderful and consent build
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
This is the first episode in our new series on Doulas. We are starting off with a very basic question: What is the difference between a Birth Doula and a Postpartum Doula? Now, there are many types of doulas, but for the purpose of this series we’ll be focused on those two types specifically.
Birth Doulas are for during pregnancy, labor and the immediate postpartum (like the few hours after birth kind of immediate!). Postpartum Doulas typically don’t work with a family until they are home from their hospital or birth center. If a family gives birth at home a postpartum doulas works with them typically starting after the first 24-48 hrs.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Postpartum doulas are wonderful for all sorts of reasons!
Many people hire a postpartum doula for one of the following reasons
They don’t have family or friends who plan to help
They are feeling the need for education in a hands-on way
They are dealing with a medically complex postpartum time
They need some reassurance and camaraderie
Birth Doulas are for EVERYONE :) (I fully acknowledge that I’m biased about this!)
Birth Doulas are for cesareans
Birth Doulas are for unmedicated birth
Birth Doulas are for births with medication
Birth Doulas are or all birth locations!
The one scenario that comes to mind when a birth doula wouldn’t be helpful is if having more people in your birth space is disruptive to you.
RESOURCES
Podcast Episode: Do I need Childbirth Education:
https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/kaely-daily-podcast/episode-3
FREE OXYTOCIN GUIDE:
6 Ways to Increase Oxytocin for Labor Progression
https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/free-guide-6-oxytocin-tips
CONNECT with Kaely on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
This podcast is hosted by the Birth Prep Blueprint - comprehensive Childbirth Education for expectant parents to feel calm, prepared and confident about labor and birth. Podcast listeners (that’s YOU!) get 10% off! Use the link below to get that great deal!
https://thebirthprepblueprint.com/offers/884d5a56-9089-4482-a944-6bb7c26c9b04
** The Birth Prep Blueprint is offered for only $20 to anyone who qualifies for any kind of social services (meaning that a family has a lower income to the point that they would qualify for WIC or SNAP or Medicaid, etc.). No need to disclose your income, just which service you qualify for and the link can be sent right over. Just email kaely@harroddoulaservices.com to learn more.
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
