Choosing Between a Day and Night Doula
There is no denying it, doula support can make a world of difference for new families. The founders of Bay City Doulas have dedicated their life’s work making sure that families in the Bay Area get top-notch care. While our team is here to help you every step of the way, many families have a tough time deciding which care model will work best for them postpartum. Today we are here to provide insight into the differences between day and night support, what each role entails, and offer tips for choosing between a day and night doula.
What is a postpartum doula?
A postpartum doula is a trained professional who helps families through the postpartum period by offering in-home care support. At Bay City Doulas, our postpartum doulas are certified, insured, vetted, and trained. The role of a postpartum doula is to help families find what works best for them postpartum. Our postpartum doula team is expertly educated in newborn care, infant feeding, and postpartum parent care. Our team provides physical and emotional support during the postpartum period. With an individualized approach, we come in daily and meet our clients where they are at. The services we offer include, but are not limited to :
- Postpartum recovery and self-care
- Exploring parenting styles
- Partner support
- Routine strategizing and building
- Navigating infant feeding & lactation support
- Newborn comfort techniques
- Infant sleep positioning & timing
- Troubleshooting issues in real-time
- Newborn product and safety information
- Day-to-day light Light housekeeping & laundry
- Meal preparation
- Sibling care
What is the role of a daytime doula?
A daytime doula’s goal is to meet families where they are on a daily basis, and adjust what is accomplished based on what a family’s needs are at the moment. Daytime doulas help families establish new routines, provide time for parents to practice self-care, help with infant feeding, educate families on infant care practices, and can help with light housework and cooking, among many other things! Our postpartum doulas will help to reduce the overwhelm, and help to enable families to not just survive, but thrive postpartum.
What is the role of a night doula?
Night doulas provide families and newborns with expert care and support throughout the night so that new parents can rest and revitalize. Our goal is to help newborns establish healthy sleep routines, and elongate sleep windows over time. Our team keeps a record of all diaper changes, sleep windows, awake windows, and feedings throughout the night. Bay City Doulas clients take comfort knowing that their little one is in the hands of a trained professional while they catch up on much-needed rest. Like a daytime doula, night doulas can support families with infant feeding, emotional support, light housework, and cooking in both morning and evening.
The first question I ask our clients is, how do your partner and you do with lack of sleep? This question might sound silly, but some people can function better with less sleep than others. If you are overwhelmed with the idea of less sleep, the support of a night doula may be perfect for you. If you are hoping to gain more knowledge around daytime scheduling, infant feeding support, baby care techniques, and household support, daytime care may be the solution for you.
Our expert suggestion for families trying to choose between day and night support is a hybrid care model. A hybrid method is when your doula is there for twelve hours at a time. With this model, your doula can assist you in regular daytime tasks and also help ensure that you get as much sleep as possible, supporting you both day and night.
How do I choose between a day and night doula?
I still need help deciding
Are you still having a hard time deciding on what support model is right for you? Contact us today! Our team is always happy to explain the differences between daytime and nighttime support and help your individualized family decide what is right for you. For more information visit our website. Thank you for reading this week’s blog “Choosing between a day and night doula.” For more tips and tricks on all things pregnancy, postpartum, and parenthood please visit our weekly blog.
