Postpartum Doula recommendations?

Hi! Congrats on your LO :)

I gave birth to my son on 10/27, and we've had a PP doula coming to help support me since my husband went back to work last week. I have a good handle on most of the baby care at this point, so we wanted someone to do some cooking and cleaning and give me the option to take a break for a shower or nap from time to time. 

Our doula is Masako (email macoizy [at] hotmail.com), who was referred to us by our birth doula. She is an AMAZING cook, especially if you like Japanese food, and has done a great job keeping the kitchen clean, laundry washed and folded, and house looking tidy. Her rates are pretty reasonable, and I really appreciate having her help.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

What's LO? Anyway, you can manage without a doula if the one who gave birth sleeps when the baby sleeps, and the other one does the cooking, shopping, laundry, etc. It really doesn't take more than two people to manage with a baby, you just need to divide the work and make sure everyone gets enough sleep.

I highly recommend Elika Aird.  She was my birth doula and an amazing prenatal yoga teacher.  She is wonderful and transitioning from birth doula to postpartum doula.  Part of her birth doula services included sessions following birth, so I have a window into what she can offer as a postpartum doula.  She was an incredible support physically and emotionally following my saughter’s Birth.  Basically, she’s an up-for-anything kind of person, amazing with babies, an incredible body worker, and connected to services in the Bay Area for new moms. Her website is blissfulbodiesyoga.com.

We had a night doula for about 7 days total and that ran 20-30 per hour. I am not sure what day doula are like. However, you may not need to hire a doula, but rather a mother's helper or a nanny who will help with household things? They may be a bit cheaper. My babygirl is 6.5 months old now, and I went back to work on my PHD stuff when she was almost 4.5 months old. I'm still at lower productivity than before, but WAY more than those first insane 3-4 months with a baby!

We just had a great experience with Cristy Solomon of Peanuts and Parents (https://www.peanutsandparents.com/).  She has a very soothing manner and does little things without needing to be asked, like emptying full wastebaskets and bringing thirsty moms water.  She did so much for us: emotional support, teaching us how to bathe our daughter, helping us figure out what to pack in our diaper bag, how to arrange our changing table, baby massage, a little cooking and cleaning.

If all you need is someone to help with housework, I think a "mother's helper" is what you're looking for (and will be cheaper), but if you want someone to ease the transition to being parents, a postpartum doula is the way to go.

Congratulations, new parents! Not sure if you've considered a night doula, but my experience was that when my partner and I weren't getting any sleep at night it was extra hard to get anything done during the day (certainly not pleasantly). We were lucky to have Tabu Boone as our postpartum/night doula for about 6 weeks. She not only took great care of our son overnight and allowed us to get some zzzzs (within reality of having a newborn) but was a wealth of information about my postpartum health, breastfeeding, infant care. Even after she was working with us (we wished she could have longer!) we have remained in touch. She's just lovely. Though we did not use her services during the day, I believe she does offer some daytime help as well. I would contact her for more information about rates/hours and roles beyond sleep. 

tabu [at] douladiscovery.com

510-701-6338

www.douladiscovery.com