Congratulations on your pregnancy! As you’re lining up your support team, you may be examining your fit with your OBGYN, choosing a birth place, getting on daycare waiting lists, and finding various providers to boost your physical and mental health through your pregnancy. In all these preparations, have you considered a postpartum doula?

A pregnant woman holds her belly. Postpartum doulas in St. Louis offer support to pregnant and postpartum parents.

As a postpartum doula, I provide practical, informational, and emotional support to parents as they welcome a new baby into their lives. Postpartum doulas work with first-time parents, as well as more experienced families. In this blog, let’s have a look at the role of a postpartum doula and how this type of support could ease the transition of welcoming a baby into your family. While this blog focuses on in-person doula support in the St. Louis area, virtual and texting support are also available to families in any geographic area.

What Does a Postpartum Doula Do?

Let’s dive into these major categories of support that I offer as a postpartum doula: practical, informational, and emotional support.

Practical Support

With a new baby in your house, having an extra set of hands is priceless. Practical support includes things like basic meal prep, running errands, folding those endless loads of baby laundry, restocking diaper-changing stations, and much more. As a new parent, there are many things that only you can do, so my goal is to handle some household tasks to free up your time and energy. Consider me to be your to-do list conqueror!

I enjoy helping families with bigger projects like organizing baby’s nursery and implementing a system to keep, sell, or donate clothes your baby outgrows. This type of organization can start before your baby arrives, as we work together to set up baby gear, feeding and changing stations, and safe sleep areas in your home in an efficient way.

Informational Support

Whether you are a new or seasoned parent, you are likely to have many questions in the weeks and months following your baby’s birth. Clients have often described me as a friendlier alternative to middle-of-the-night web searches. Questions about newborn care, feeding, sleep, postpartum adjustment, and local resources are very common.

I work hard to identify and vet local providers who may be an important part of your postpartum care. I am always happy to recommend providers such as physical therapists, chiropractors, mental health therapists, support groups, postpartum exercise specialists, and much more. And for your baby, I can recommend pediatricians, Parents as Teachers programs, and other resources.

Emotional Support

Pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period can all bring joy and excitement, but feelings of overwhelm, sadness, and isolation can also creep in. While family and friends are a tremendous source of emotional support, having an unbiased neutral party like a postpartum doula can add an important level of care. I always tell my clients that there’s no need to sugarcoat anything with me. If you’re having a great day, we’ll celebrate that together! But you are always welcome to share the heavier parts, too. Tears are very common, healthy, and welcome.

While my role is non-clinical and I am not a medical provider or therapist, I do have extensive training in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. I’ve worked with many parents who are experiencing postpartum depression or anxiety, and I am always honored to be part of a family’s support system. I can also be another person to watch for signs of mood and anxiety disorders, conduct screening, and make appropriate referrals as needed.

What Does a Postpartum Doula Shift Look Like?

While I think of my support in these three categories, in reality a usual shift is a seamless mix of all these things, and the support I provide varies from family to family and even from day to day with the same family.

One day a mom may be eager for company and may have a long list of questions for us to talk through. Another day, she may be ready to hand me her baby and go enjoy a long nap, a shower, and a walk around the block to get some fresh air. On a third day, she may have a list for me with some tasks like unloading the dishwasher, cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables, folding a load of laundry, and dropping off some Amazon returns. Whatever a family needs on any given day, I am there to help.

If you’d like to explore how postpartum doula support could help your family as you welcome a new baby, please reach out today! I look forward to hearing from you.

Kathleen Robbins, a postpartum doula and Certified Lactation Counselor, provides in-person postpartum support to families in the St. Louis area and online and texting doula support to families in any location. For more information and to discuss how postpartum doula support could be the right fit for your family, reach out today.