What is a Doula and what do they do?

A doula is a person who assists a person who is giving birth throughout labor and delivery. Birth doulas are educated to give continuous, one-on-one care to laboring women and their partners, as well as information, physical support, and emotional support.

Throughout labor and delivery, doulas nurture and support the birthing person. Their primary responsibility is to provide constant labor support to the mother, whatever of her choices or how she delivers birth. The doula's role and agenda are entirely dependent on the birthing person. This is often referred to as "priority of interest." In other words, the primary obligation of a doula is to the person giving birth.

A doula assists with emotional, educational, and physical aspects of childbirth. One of the doula's main responsibilities is to look after the mother's mental well-being and help her create pleasant birth memories.

In collaboration with her healthcare providers, a doula gives information that assists the woman in making informed decisions.

A doula offers informational assistance by keeping the birthing person and their partner up to date on what's going on during labor and providing them with evidence-based information on birth options.

The following are examples of informative support:

• supporting the person giving birth and their spouse during labor
• Suggestions for labor strategies like as breathing, relaxation, movement, and placement
• assist them in acquiring evidence-based information on various pregnancy and birthing alternatives
• Providing assistance in explaining medical procedures before or during their occurrence.
• Assisting the partner in comprehending what is happening with their loved one's labor.

Continuous labor assistance has been demonstrated to produce good pregnancy outcomes, including better birth satisfaction and a boost in the mother's self-esteem. This could have a good impact on the postpartum mother-baby bond as well as breastfeeding start and continuation.

• They do not provide medical advise or diagnose illnesses.
• They do not do clinical responsibilities such as vaginal exams or fetal heart monitoring.
• They do not make medical or other decisions for the client, and they do not pressure the birthing person to make specific choices simply because that is what they prefer.
• They don't take over the partner's duty, they don't catch the newborn, and they don't switch shifts.

There have been 26 randomized trails that tested the effects of continuous labor support on more than 15,000 people giving birth. People who get ongoing care are more likely to have a normal vaginal delivery and are less likely to need pain medication, have bad thoughts about labor, or have caesarean sections.

Their labors are also shorter, and their newborns are less likely to develop difficulties at delivery or be admitted to the NICU. The highest effects were shown in these trials when a trained doula offered constant assistance.