Birth doulas

The word doula is a Greek word meaning ‘woman servant or caregiver’. A doula’s job is to offer emotional and practical support during your labor and in the postpartum period.

It’s a great way of making sure you have a familiar face with you all through you labor and birth – especially if you’re having a hospital birth, since your OB-GYN may not stay with you all the time and your labor might stretch across more than one shift of labor and delivery nurses. Research shows that the type of one-to-one support a doula can provide leads to shorter, easier labors for many women and although your health insurance probably won’t cover the expense, it could be money well spent.

Your doula may not be a trained midwife but she’ll be a certified labor support specialist with experience of helping women cope with labor and childbirth and helping care for them after the birth. She won’t offer clinical support in the way that an OB-GYN or nurse-midwife will – the emphasis is much more on emotional support. During the birth, your doula will provide reassurance, comfort and nurturance and may also help to involve your partner more in the process.

Doulas believe that a woman can be empowered through her experience of childbirth and also that receiving close emotional support can positively transform her experience. Studies suggest that using a doula to help you in labor can decrease the need for surgical interventions such as cesarean sections, shorten your labor, reduce your reliance on pain relief and also increase the success rate of breastfeeding.

• Doulas of North America (www.dona.org) has an online doula finder.

The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.

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Last Modified: 18/06/2007

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