Doula: What is a doula & what does it offer you?

What exactly is a doula?

The name of the doula is derived from “doulalei” and means “servant of the woman”. For thousands of years, women who already have children of their own have accompanied other women during their births. In the last hundred years, childbirth has moved from the home environment to hospitals. It is not always possible to provide the mother with sustained and sensitive support in this environment due to a lack of staff or other reasons. The support is often limited to the purely medical-technical support and often has a pure control character. Today, doulas accompany the birthing woman through constant presence during the birth and help to create the birthing environment in a way that makes her feel safe, protected and comfortable.

What training does a doula need and what does it offer you?

Although she is neither a midwife nor a doctor, she has experience from her own births and a special training that enables her to deal with the fears, worries and questions of pregnant women at any time. In order to be able to train as a doula today, a woman must be at least 25 years old and have already given birth to a child of her own. After the training, doulas offer special emotional support before, during and after the birth and take on various tasks to make pregnancy and birth easier for you:

• A doula tries to arrange the birth environment in such a way that you feel comfortable and safe
• She will provide you with comprehensive information about the course of the birth, about the possibilities of pain relief as well as their risks and side effects
• She tries to strengthen the connection between you and your child before, during and after the birth
• She will teach you various relaxation techniques and birthing positions that can make the birthing process easier for you
• She tries to protect and promote your memories of the birth through conversations and rituals
• She also takes care of your partner’s well-being and supports him in finding his role just before, during and after the birth
• She supports you in looking forward to the birth in a more relaxed manner, to gather your personal strength and to recognize the contractions as a source of strength
• It promotes your self-determination about the birth process and informs you about your rights
• She respects your privacy and that of your partner and treats everything that happens confidentially
• She supports your well-being and helps you to find suitable offers of help if necessary

Doulas accompany births in clinics, at home and in birth centres, and also offer specialist support during births

• cesarean sections
• births of children with disabilities
• premature births
• miscarriages
• stillbirths

In addition, doulas are also trained for special life situations of expectant mothers, such as:

• Pregnancy at a young age
• Pregnancies against a background of abuse
• Expectant mothers without a partner

Is a doula an alternative to the midwife?

Since a doula has no medical training and therefore the birth of your child cannot take place without a midwife, she is not an alternative to the midwife . Your doula supports the work of the midwife and works with her as a team. As a woman with birth experience, she has well-founded knowledge and is ready and responds to the needs of women during birth – as “woman’s servant”, as doula can be translated from ancient Greek.

Should you choose a doula?

Whether you decide for or against a doula is entirely up to you. If you want additional emotional support in addition to your midwife’s support, a doula can offer you exactly that. Proponents of doula training are convinced that the presence of a doula before, during and after the birth has a positive influence on the birth process:

• The delivery time can be shortened by a few hours
• The frequency of postnatal depression can be reduced
• The need for labour-inducing and pain-relieving drugs can be reduced
• Special birth events, such as caesarean sections or forceps/ventouse births, can be reduced
• Breastfeeding success can be increased