Frequently-Asked Questions
What is a Doula?
A birth doula is a trained support professional who draws on her knowledge and experience to provide a mother with continuous educational, emotional, and physical support during pregnancy, childbirth, and the few first weeks after delivery. She is committed to helping the mother achieve the safest, healthiest, and most rewarding birth experience possible. She tailors her support to match the individual mother’s needs and desires.
What are the benefits of Continuous Labor Support?
Recent research by the Cochrane Review demonstrates that continuous labor support, in particularly by someone in the doula role, offers remarkable benefits to women experiencing labor and childbirth. In fact, this systematic review concluded that women with continuous support were 39 percent less likely to have a cesarean birth, 35 percent less likely to have a negative birth experience, and 15 percent more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal delivery. Supported women were more likely to experience shorter labors and were less likely to require an instrumental or medicated vaginal birth, including vacuum extraction, forceps, regional pain medications, or systemic pain medications.
Click on Continuous Support for Women During Childbirth: 2017 Cochrane Review Update by the National Partnership for Women and Families for a detailed summary of the updated review.
Click on What is a doula? by DONA International for a wealth of information about doulas, DONA training, and a variety of other topics.
Click on Having a Doula: Is a Doula for Me? by the American Pregnancy Association for more information about doulas.
info@BlueLotusDoulaServices.com
