Postpartum Doula Services

Life with a newborn is full of challenges such exhaustion, confusion, and just too much to do. It’s also a time for triumphs, which may include finding rhythms, mastering sleep during daylight hours, learning what your newborn needs, and understanding how to soothe your baby. It’s often a real roller coaster of emotions including love, frustration, bliss, confusion, peace and too many more to list here.

The most important thing I bring as a postpartum doula is an understanding of the realities of life with a newborn. We can co-create a more calm, settled space. You are the expert in your baby, even if you don’t believe that yet. I’ll do my best to help you get there.

Sending new parents home to take care of a baby on their own, and expecting them to thrive, is an unfair expectation for almost all families. In most places around the world, families with newborns are surrounded by loved-ones and community that help with all kinds of things in this big transition. New parents and their children are fed and supported as they navigate life with a newborn.

I respect my clients’ decisions; you do you! I can be chatty or quiet; I am good at “reading the room” and am happy to meet you where you’re at.

As a Birth Doula, I see my birth doula clients in the early postpartum days and am available for regular check-ins and questions. The longer hours of postpartum doula work are a separate service that can be arranged ahead of time or after the birth.

Many people who contact me about postpartum doula support do so when they feel overwhelmed, over-tired, and/or realize they don’t know what they don’t know about life with a new baby.

Sometimes the people who contact me are actually doing well and feeling fairly settled, and just need help with some of the practicalities of everyday family life such as having someone to care for the baby while they take a well-needed nap, help juggling home-care and child-care tasks, and / or someone to hold their toddler’s hand while we all go for a walk. There’s an extensive list of options below.

Others are pregnant and planning ahead.

Please see my FAQ about Postpartum Doulas for a general description of what a Postpartum Doula is and what kind of work they do.

Please contact me if you’re interested in setting up Postpartum Doula Services.

Postpartum Doula Services / Tasks Include:

The Nuts & Bolts i.e. the Practical Stuff:

If we meet prenatally, help create a Postpartum Plan. This can be done after the birth but most people just want to “put out the fires” if we’re meeting for the first time when Baby’s already Earthside.
Hold baby/provide newborn care so parent(s) can take a nap or shower or do whatever they need to do to feel human. This includes taking them for a walk in a stroller around the neighborhood on a good-weather day or sitting in a back-yard with Baby.
Family outings e.g. Science Centre, walks, playtime at parks, any activities where it’s good to have an extra set of hands.
Breastfeeding support – see next section for details.
Errands, solo or with clients, within city limits and within reasonable expectations of what’s a “regular errand”.
Basic food prep using your ingredients and kitchen supplies, such as putting together a snack or light meal, making a salad or smoothie, putting a freezer-meal in the oven.
Light home care such as doing a load of dishes, folding a basket of laundry – just the things that will keep the wheels on the bus.
Assembling/disassembling breast-pumps, cleaning the parts.
Pet care basics such as feeding, cuddling/petting, watering, walking dogs that have a friendly temperament and are manageable on a leash. (Pretty much any pet except snakes.)
Help set up efficient spaces such as a diaper-changing station, a “nest” for a parent to hold their baby and have everything in reach.
Walking parent(s) through how to do baby care basics such as bath, diapers, holding, comfort, swaddling, infant massage.
Play with children (while there’s a responsible parent in the home) so parents can care for other children or take a nap. This includes baby-holding, playing outdoors on a nice day, reading to children, indoor crafts or play using your supplies.
Overnight care. Please see the section at the end for details.
If you are curious about a task not on this list, please ask me.

The Educational & Emotional Support Stuff:

Ask what is most needed in that session. Is it sleep, a snack, some info, a chat? Identifying priorities.
Help you understand what your options are and then respect your choices.
Provide education, emotional support and practical skills related to the postpartum period – maternal care and newborn care. This includes challenges related to the birth such as Caesarean recovery, managing a bottom that’s sore and/or stitched, emotional challenges or even trauma related to birth.
Practical skills for managing a newborn plus siblings and/or pets.
Planning the week or days ahead.
Help create a family chore plan of who will do tasks.
If we meet prenatally, we can do a session about breastfeeding positions and baby holding, using my weighted baby-doll.
Listen to the birth story and assist in processing the birth experience, for the birth mom and partner. Can help them document/record their experience.
Info about where to send feedback regarding how you were treated in birth /postpartum by the medical staff. This might be compliments and gratitude or complaints and suggestions.
Breastfeeding education and support such as positioning, myth-busting, latch, troubleshooting, how partner/family can be supportive, and knowing when to refer out to a Lactation Consultant.
Guidance for other feeding options such as pumping, bottle feeding human milk or formula, and options for donor milk.
Tips for dealing with loved ones that are helpful or require better boundaries.
Provide suggestions and tips that usually lead to a calmer baby.
Understanding and supporting the dad/partner’s journey to and through early parenthood.
Information and guidance to the dad or partner / other parent about what a postpartum woman needs, how to support her, bonding with Baby and supporting the breastfeeding relationship.
Helping parents get the information needed to make informed decisions.
Information about sleep options and spaces.
Understanding of maternal mental health and options for support. I am not a counselor and can make recommendations.
Community resources such as health care providers, where to find services and things needed during the postpartum time.
Referrals to other experts as needed e.g. lactation consultants, physiotherapists, mental health practitioners.
Trouble shooting and tips for things such as diaper-rash, fussy babies.
Meal planning and/or setting up a meal-tree.

I work with a select group of back-up postpartum doulas in case I can not attend a scheduled shift due to unforeseen circumstances such as illness or being called to a birth. My clients are given the options of rescheduling or working with one of my colleagues, at the same rates and hours.

Limitations of my Postpartum Doula Services i.e. Stuff I Don’t do:

Some of these items are kind of funny. Some are based on the Partpartum Doula Scope of Practice. Yes, I’ve been asked to do some strange things or work in unusual circumstances, and some of those have made this list too.

I do not:

Make decisions for my clients or tell them what to do.
Speak on behalf of my clients, such as to medical staff, extended family.
Provide medical care, diagnose medical conditions or make recommendations regarding medical treatment.
Drive a vehicle with clients, their babies or children.
Provide heavy housework / detailed cleaning.
Baby sit (i.e. with no parents in-house).
Work in spaces that are unhealthy or unsafe for me. This includes spaces with second-hand smoke and environmental chemicals. Please see the next section.
Work in spaces with infestations such as bed-bugs and other critters.
Work with people while they have a contagious illness, because I work with other families’ newborns.

Health and Safety Standards:

The following generally describes a work space that’s safe and healthy:

There is no vaping or smoking of anything indoors, at any time, whether your doula is present or not.
No pets and/or people that are prone to aggression.
There must be a plan to secure dogs, in case they become over-protective. (I absolutely LOVE dogs and they love me, and I’ve been bitten twice by “gentle dogs who have never done this before” in the presence of the newborn and postpartum client.)
Free from infestations such as bed-bugs, other insects, rodents, and other critters.
No one present with a contagious illness.
Your doula will take necessary breaks to eat at regular mealtimes and recharge if needed.
If overnight care will be provided, then please provide the doula and the baby a clean, separate place to sleep away from anyone else in the home with clean linens. The doula may require a solo-sleep in said room before driving home (details below in Overnight Care).

Location and Schedule:

I work in the Regina area, within 45min of city limits.
I am happy to meet you in your birthplace if we’ve made arrangements for care in the first hours. More commonly, I meet people in their home or where they’ll be living with Baby, scheduled by appointment.
People usually book me 2-3 weeks ahead of time. I am willing to work with short notice if that’s how your life is rolling and if it works with my schedule. The schedule is arranged when we start working together.
I am happy to do one shift for you or many. There’s no minimum or maximum.

Daytime work hours:

Generally, I provide 2-6 hr shifts in town and 4-6 hr shifts outside of city limits.
My usual work hours are within 11am – 7pm.
I can work longer shifts and outside of those hours if needed and am happy to discuss other configurations.

Overnight care: Please see the section on that, below.

Fees:

There is a signed Client-Doula Agreement with detailed fees and expectations provided once we agree to work together. We can arrange to work together per shift or do a bundle of shifts; whatever’s easier for you.

I accept e-transfer and cash for payment. E-transfers are accepted upon signing the Agreement or anytime before the shift(s) begin. Cash is due at the beginning of the shift.

Daytime hours are billed at $40/hour for regular hours. There’s an additional charge for extra-long shifts.
Overnight care is $60/hour.
Travel time counts as work hours for out of town clients.
Partial hours are pro-rated to the next quarter hour.

Overnight care

This is when many families crave support and many postpartum doulas’ lives are not set up to provide overnight care. If you’re working with a postpartum doula who doesn’t provide overnight care, then I recommend you continue with them for daytime support and add me as an overnight support.

Hours available: 11pm – 7am (3 hour minimum)

Fees: $60/hr

Things to Know About Overnight Care:

I will sleep if Baby is sleeping and the parent(s) are settled. This is common practice for overnight doula care. There needs to be a separate room and clean linens for me to sleep near the baby, so I can tend to them when needed. (If you’re looking for someone to stay awake in the night to watch your baby, then please ask me for those rates, which are very high.)
This service is readily available to people in Regina/White City limits.
If you would like me to provide overnight care outside of that area, up to 45 min away:
- My travel time is considered as part of the work hours.
- I can only provide this service out of town if there’s a separate and quiet space with clean linens where I can sleep undisturbed for at least 2 hrs before driving home. (This recuperation time does not count as billable hours i.e. I don’t charge for my “rest to drive safely” time.)

Overnight Services Include:

Hold baby/provide newborn care so parent(s) can sleep.
Feed Baby a bottle or bring Baby to the breastfeeding parent, or wake the parent to come out to do the feed if they prefer.
Walking parent(s) through how to do baby care basics overnight as needed such as diapers, holding, comfort, swaddling.
Sitting up with the parent if they wish to chat or ask questions before going back to sleep.
Breastfeeding support such as positioning and latch.
Provide suggestions and tips that usually lead to a calmer baby.