Austin Baby Guru’s signature services for years has been in-home, overnight postpartum care. As our team and services have grown, we’ve been offering daytime care, as well– yay! In this blog, we will describe the ways a daytime postpartum doula can be a crucial part of your support team.

We suggest all families read over our FAQs about postpartum care here to get a sense when to book, how much care to book, and more!

What is Daytime Support Like?

Daytime doulas typically work with a family for 2-5 shifts each week. Shifts often range from 3-5 hours each. A doula’s overarching goal is to support your family in adjusting to life with a new baby in the house. Furthermore, folks on the ABG team are specialists in newborn care, so they can care for baby, as well as educate you and offer tips, suggestions, and resources.

We know so well that baby’s arrival is a time of adjustment for everyone in the family system. It can be an overwhelming and uncertain time in many ways. Whew. Big breath! A doula steps in and offers support for the entire household, working alongside you to fill in gaps, bolster your spirits, and help you create systems that work for your family.

These are some of the ways a daytime doula can support your growing family:

• Emotional support: It can be truly powerful to be witnessed, heard, and seen in these vulnerable first days and weeks after birth. Doulas are non-judgemental, compassionate caregivers who are skilled at active listening, reflecting back what they’re hearing, and offering words of encouragement and affirmation.
• Feeding support: We all have years of experience supporting families as they feed their babies– this includes breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and pumping. While we are not IBCLCs, we are able to help you triage challenges, try some initial adjustments and tricks, and make solid referrals when we think you need to see a higher level lactation professional.
• Teach/model newborn care: From diapering, to burping, to swaddling, we’ve got you! While we are happy to do these things for parents while they rest, we also prioritize handing off the skills so that you feel confident when we are not around, too.
• Household tasks/light housekeeping: We will chip in on baby laundry, bottle/pump-related dishes, and pick up around your space.
• Support sibling transitions: When you bring a new baby into the family, older siblings will need some time and patience to adjust. We can discuss ways to approach the topic with your older kid(s), offer older siblings some special attention, and work with you to create schedules or systems that help meet the needs of all the children.
• Prepare meals: Most often we are warming up food you already have or putting together a snack plate, but depending on your needs and preferences, we may cook or meal prep for your family. And, yes, we will fill up your water bottle!
• Accompaniment for outings: It’s an honor to be a companion for outings like doctor’s appointments (for you or baby), or to do practice runs of errands with baby. We want you to feel confident in navigating the logistics, and we know that sometimes having a supportive teammate at appointments can decrease anxiety and ensure you get all of your questions answered.
• Logistics and care coordination: We can help with grocery ordering or scheduling other support people like house cleaners. In some cases, we will communicate and collaborate with other doulas.
• Organization: Doulas can help organize the nursery area and/or other spaces parents and baby tend to hang out (aka your favorite corner of the couch or your bedroom). We can restock your bathroom cart with pads, refresh the diaper supply, wash and hang baby clothes, and so on.

ABG is Here for You

Your postpartum period matters deeply to us at Austin Baby Guru! We are here to offer daytime doula support, ideas, and referrals. We invite you to reach out if you want help preparing for baby. Finally, our guide to finding the best postpartum doula for your family is here! 

*Photo credit: Image by rawpixel.com