Doula Support & Postpartum Nourishment

I build my support packages based on your family’s needs. We will discuss all the specifics during our pre-natal meeting (ideally occurring in your 7th or 8th month, though we can have it anytime). This pre-natal meeting is included in the support packages.

Read on for the kinds of support I offer and what we might do together:

What will we do together during a visit?

The first 40 days (about six weeks) is a key period to establish the health, confidence and well-being of the new mother (and therefore of baby and family!). In keeping with the wisest traditional practices and current best practices based in research, the hours that comprise my support packages are meant to be spread out over this very special, 40-day period (but can also continue beyond them!).

First and foremost, my main priorities will be to provide healing, comforting, supporting and integrating measures for the new mom. She will have just undergone a tremendous event that touches every aspect of her being—physical, physiological, biological, emotional, spiritual, social, even spatial (you now have two, or three, bodies to move through space, not just one!)—and so my goal, as the postpartum doula, is to help mom navigate what anthropologists call this “liminal state” – a moment in time in which the old life has passed and the new one is on the cusp of being realized.

Further, my role is to support and empower the new mom in the learning of the motherly arts, such as feeding, diapering, soothing, and bonding. Like a “spotter” at the gym, I will be there to guide, suggest and encourage. Depending on mom’s and family’s needs, and the point in time from the birth, tasks or activities may include:

• Helping new parents meet hunger, thirst and sleep needs
• Providing comfort or logistical measures to support feeding (breast/chest/bottle), such as finding nursing positions, setting up nursing “stations”, giving the other parent guidance on how to help, etc.
• Setting up or assessing changing stations for ease and convenience, etc.
• Breast/chest/bottle feeding support
• Diapering and changing support
• Helping with baby’s first bath
• Light housework, such as laundry, dishes, changing bed linens, etc.
• Education about feeding, newborn care, maternal mental and physical health
• Listening to the birth story; new-parent fears, anxieties and hopes
• Support and validation in learning the mothering arts
• Settling older children into tasks, activities, or a snack/meal
• Providing referrals for other service persons, such as lactation consultants, therapists, or other specialists.

On our (approximately) 40th day together, we will have a special closing session.

Postpartum Nourishment

I do the cooking right in your kitchen, contributing to a warm and cozy domestic atmosphere. In-home cooking includes not just the cooking, but the shopping (if necessary), the prepping, cleaning, table-laying and storing of any leftovers.

Stay tuned for a sample menu and photos of my cooking!

Sample packages

“The Grandma”

55 total hours* of support, inclu. In-home cooking

• Doula support activities as noted above
• Each week I will cook 2 family meals, a hearty soup, and 3 different types of snacks.
• Unlimited text, phone or email support

Labour costs: $1,800
Food costs: amount for family of 4 x market price for ingredients

Approximate total: $1,900

“The Auntie”

40 total hours* of support, inclu. In-home cooking

• Doula support activities as noted above
• Each week I will cook 1 family meal and 3 different types of snacks.
• Unlimited text, phone or email support

Labour: $1,350
Food costs: amount for family of 4 x market price for ingredients

Approximate total: $1,400

“The Big Sis”

36 hours* of support, no cooking

• Doula support activities as noted above
• No additional cooking except what would fall within normal doula duties (such as making mom a quick omelette)
• Unlimited text, phone or email support

Labour: $1,320
Food costs: 0

Total: $1,320

* The hours can be spread through the week in various ways. For example, for “The Grandma” package, 55 hours is about 9 hours a week. I could come twice a week for 4.5 hours, or 3 times a week for 3 hours. The minimum number of hours per shift is 3.