Becoming a new parent brings about a whole bunch of new topics- ones you never imagined you’d spend hours discussing with your partner, family and friends. You’ll discuss diapers, and bottles, and organic mattresses, and baby led weaning and the biggie- SLEEP.
Infant sleep is such a sensitive and heated topic. You’ll find friends who had a 6 week old who slept through the night and you’ll have other friends whose 3 year old still climbs into bed every night, which “must” be caused by the bad sleep habits they learned as an infant.
You’ll hear the ever so popular “sleep when the baby sleeps”, which is great advice- but perhaps not so practical when you have, you know, other things you’d like to get done while the baby naps, like a shower or having a snack without a baby in your arms. Sometimes babies don’t want to sleep without someone holding them (totally normal, by the way. If you just came out of a small, warm, cozy little womb wouldn’t you want to be held all the time too?).
Maybe you can’t sleep because you’re worried about how things are going or maybe the baby seems irritable or isn’t feeding well. Maybe you’re overwhelmed with sorting through all the tiny clothes and items you received as gifts and you can’t even identify what half these items are for.
Ding Dong! Your postpartum doula has arrived! Now is your chance- you’ve got somebody to hold that baby so you can shower, eat, nap, check in with the outside world or even just get others things done around the house. She comes ready to help you with whatever you need that day so you can feel confident and comfortable as a new mom.
Making sense of those swaddling blankets? Check.
Helping you to find a better breastfeeding position? Check.
Wrapping your baby in your new carrier so you can shower? Check.
Getting that last load of laundry into the dryer? CHECK!
These are all things that a postpartum doula can help you with.
Pretty amazing, right?
