When our world changed and we adjusted to life in a global pandemic, naturally we paused in home services and, we started to consider all the ways doulas and newborn care specialists could provide great care from a distance, through phone & email support and video check ins where your doula holds a space for your emotional and physical well being.
This is Virtual Postpartum Care!
Imagine having a postpartum doula available to you to answer your questions, provide you with the guidance and reassurance you are looking for, and help you navigate the physical and emotional healing that takes place in those early postpartum weeks.
“Knowing you were there for us made all the difference.”
Here are some ways a postpartum doula can support a family virtually, through phone & video check-ins:
- Together we can create postpartum care plans to prepare you for bringing baby home.
- Provide infant tips and tricks specific to each baby and mother or parent.
- Provide sleep education and advice for the whole family so that everyone is getting good rest.
- Offer feeding support, whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding, through watching you feed your baby we can offer guidance from latching to burping.
- Coordinating meal planning and make sure that everyone is staying well fed.
- Work together to track baby’s schedule and help create a healthy routine that includes snuggles and self care.
- Be an emotional support person that offers a listening ear and judgment-free, caring support.
- Help identify postpartum mood and anxiety disorders and offer resources and support.
- So much more.
Please contact us to learn more about our Virtual Postpartum Care offering.
In-Person or In-Home Care in 2020
As of early June 2020 in Michigan our Stay Home Stay Safe orders have lifted, some of our local hospitals have started to allow doulas to attend our client’s births as an additional support person (during the pandemic most hospitals were only allowing one support person in the room with a laboring person!). Movement in this direction is a sigh of relief for our whole team at Ann Arbor Birth & Family. We have postpartum doulas ready to continue both virtual postpartum support and safely resume in home postpartum services!
Here is how we are approaching safe in-person/in-home care:
- As always, we practice excellent hygiene in a home. We always wash our hands upon entering a home, and wash our hands often. We practice cleanliness all around and are very aware of entering your space in a safe manner.
- Together with our clients we will discuss a plan where everyone is comfortable, including wearing masks, arriving in fresh cloths, removing shoes at the door, or other precautions the family and doula agree upon to keep everyone safe.
- Doulas will communicate any possible COVID-19 exposures and continue to practice reasonable social distancing practices in their personal life.
- In effort to limit exposure and while appropriate or with discretion of all doulas and families, our doula’s will serve one family in home at a time.
Our team is dedicated to the overall well-being of your home, just as our own. The postpartum period is an important time for support and we look forward to continue to serve families either in-person or virtually.