A postpartum doula provides unbiased information and hands-on support for families transitioning to life with a newborn (whether it’s their first or their fifth). The role is flexible and well rounded, and can encompass infant care, support or education with breastfeeding or bottlefeeding, light housekeeping, answering parents’ questions about newborn development and postpartum healing, meal prep, some sibling support, and connecting the family to other relevant resources. Doulas support families day and/or night.

Doulas applying to join One Moon Doula Services go through a lengthy vetting process that is unmatched in our area. After submitting a written application they have a call with our Program Coordinator to clarify requirements, which is followed by a 90-minute Group Interview. We then call three or more references for extensive feedback and evaluation. At that point a face-to-face interview with the Director is required, and if they meet our standards, they are taken through a thorough Orientation to cover scope of practice and professionalism. In order to be accepted they must also have attended an approved Postpartum Doula training and secured a CPR certification. Once hired, the agency solicits feedback from every family that works with the doula, so we can support them in continual growth and improvement! We also provide monthly opportunities to the doulas to check in for support and learn from each other. This allows us to keep tabs on their strengths and areas for improvement, and to support them as needed. Basically, we feel very closely acquainted with the individuals that we are sending into your home, so that we can say with certainty you’ll be in good hands!

Many families prefer to work with our agency for the following reasons:

• Doulas are vetted and accountable to the agency owner.
• Doulas are mentored and supported by the agency, leading to professional and personal growth, which means they are continually improving upon the services they provide! (The field of doula work does not have any governmental regulation or licensing and so this added layer of assurance is critically important to the families we work with). 
• With a team of doulas of a moderate size, there is a lot of choice (especially when you plan in advance!) when it comes to availability, qualifications, scheduling preferences, etc. Sometimes we’ll create a team of 2 doulas to meet your specific needs, or call in a backup doula if your needs change.
• We streamline everything for you so you can focus on preparing for baby! We save you the time of calling around, reaching references, determining who is available and even knowing what to ask them to know if they’re the right doula for you – this is what we do best. 

The answer to this might depend on how many other sources of support you will have. If your spouse will be taking some time off of work and playing a large role, and you have local family to help, you may be able to have less frequent visits (perhaps twice a week when the spouse is off work, increasing to 3-5 times a week after that, until around the 3 month mark). If you have less support, and older children, you may want to start with 4-6 shifts per week, and scale back after 6 or 8 weeks. On the phone, we can discuss whether day shifts or overnight shifts would be most useful for you.

Your doula can come for half day visits, or for a full day or night. Some families opt to have a day doula and a night doula, to utilize our help in different ways. Your doula can also stay overnight with you in the hospital, or travel with your family if you’re going on a trip.

Most doulas have a minimum of 4 hours for a day shift, and 8 hours for an overnight shift. (We recommend 9 hours for overnights if possible!).

One Moon Doula has a minimum contract size of 36 hours (total, to be used as you see fit) to begin our doula matching process.

Sometimes, yes. While the main value of our role is not as a babysitter, from time to time parents will go pick up a sibling, or even grab a bite to eat together, and opt to leave the doula home with the baby. However, each doula may have different policies and it is best to confirm this directly with your doula of choice.

A postpartum doula is not a replacement for your housekeeper, or nanny. While she can tidy up and help with some light chores, she’s not there for deep cleaning or whole-house cleaning. If the shift is long, she’ll need to find some natural times to take a short break and/or have something to eat. Doulas cannot drive a car with anyone in your family in it, or dispense medication or give medical advice.

Please plan, if you can! The more you plan in advance, the more choice you have when it comes to your doula match and your ideal schedule. We often have clients booking our services 6 months in advance… which also means we can sometimes fill up and run out of availability if your request is last minute! That said, we always try to accommodate even last minute requests, so it’s certainly worth a try.

Instead of paying our doulas a reduced rate out of the family’s pay, we now charge a separate placement fee. This allows us to retain doulas for longer, and attract qualified doulas to our network, which we do because it benefits you!

Often it works out almost the same mathematically to other approaches, depending on the doula’s hourly rate. Your placement fee will be determined by the length of the contract with your doula. What the placement fee gets you:

-Catered Doula match/es or Doula team for your desired schedule;

-Access to thoroughly vetted doulas/newborn care specialists (process includes application, interview with Director, references, verification of qualifications, and ongoing evaluation)

-Postpartum Planning Survey and needs assessment for your family, to help us find the best match/es

-Intro meeting or meetings between you and your Doula/s

-Follow up calls with Agency Director if needed

-Backup support dependent upon availability

-A doula who has somewhere to go with their questions, and has the support of a highly qualified network if something falls out of her range of experience

The role of a postpartum doula is both more broad and comprehensive, as well as more specialized. Postpartum doulas have newborn expertise as well as the education to support new parents, including mothers going through postpartum recovery. They have the training and experience to support postpartum moms during the physical healing process as well as during what can be an emotionally sensitive time. The doulas are trained to recognize certain signs of postpartum mood disorders, as well as to support the family as a whole.

Many families decide to start with a postpartum doula during the most vulnerable weeks, after baby’s arrival, to have more robust support and knowledge when it’s needed most, and then transition to a nanny and transition to a nanny when they feel more confident.

All of San Diego County. (However, for Sleep Coaching, we can help you wherever you are in the world!)

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