Doulas and Your Maternity Experience
A doula is a specially trained support person who provides educational, emotional and physical support to women and their partners during their pregnancy, during birth and often during the postpartum period as well. They do not provide medical care, but they can help you have a more positive birth experience.
At RWJBarnabas Health hospitals, we welcome doulas as part of your care team. Doulas can be helpful in enabling parents to feel comfortable and safe.
What Does a Doula Do?
A doula provides extra support to mothers and their partners in a variety of ways.
- Education. Your doula can explain what to expect before, during and after birth. This can include birth plans, medical interventions, and pain management options, both medical and non-medical.
- Emotional support. Your doula will be there to provide encouragement, reassurance and comfort. They can address fears and anxieties and create a calm and positive birth environment to make your experience less stressful.
- Physical support. A doula can help you find more comfortable birthing positions, and guide you in breathing techniques and relaxation exercises.
- Postpartum support. Some doulas offer support after the baby is born, guiding the new mother in breastfeeding techniques, providing emotional support and helping the family adjust to life with a new baby.
What Is the Difference Between a Doula and a Midwife?
A doula does not provide medical support, while a midwife can. Nurse-midwives at RWJBarnabas Health work with your care team at the hospital to monitor your health and medical care.
Doula Policy
RWJBarnabas Health welcomes doulas as members of our patient’s support network, and we value your role as part of the care delivery team.
Our desire is to work collaboratively with the mother’s chosen support people to provide the best possible birth experience for her and her family. In order to ensure an optimal experience, we provide these guidelines for doulas planning to attend births at RWJBarnabas Health.
The patient will be allowed one person at the bedside until it is determined the patient is being admitted.
The patient may only have one person accompany her to the operating room.
The role of the doula is to give non-medical assistance to a woman during labor, providing emotional and physical support throughout the process of childbirth.
The doula will not and cannot perform medical tasks such as taking vital signs, applying or removing the fetal heart monitor or oxygen, assisting the mother out of bed without approval from the medical staff or doing vaginal examinations.
Decisions about the patient’s medical care will be made by the patient and her doctor/midwife and nurses. If the medical team wants to speak privately with the patient, the doula will honor this request and leave the room if asked to do so.
Doulas will be asked to respect the medical expertise of the physician/midwife as he/she has been chosen by the patient to utilize this expertise to ensure a safe birth experience. Decisions regarding the patient’s care need to occur between the patient and her doctor/midwife.
Please note that RWJBarnabas Health retains the right to ask anyone to leave the patient care area/delivery room when it deems necessary, including doulas.
