8 Questions to ask your Birth Doula about Postpartum to Prevent Being Dropped at the Curb
*Content Note* We recognize that The Nourished Postpartum Challenge may stir up past trauma, or feel confronting to folks currently pregnant or in the early postpartum months. What may feel clarifying and cathartic to one person may be another person’s deepest trigger. Please care for yourself this week, share what feels safe to you, and if you realize you need deeper mental health support, we have created a Resources page which you can find here.
Birth Doula
Will we be building a postpartum plan together? If so, what will it entail? If not, why?
Will you provide postpartum healing comforts and education at your postpartum visit?
How frequently can I expect you to check on me outside of our scheduled appointments or visits?
How much time prenatally will we spend on postpartum care, questions, and setting up supports?
How ‘long’ do you think postpartum is?
How will we formally close the container of my care?
Tell me about the resources and referral network you have to ensure I have adequate mental health, lactation, and community supports.
What do you think are the essential components to a nourished postpartum?
The 2018 ACOG report “Optimizing Postpartum Care” expressly states that prenatal postpartum planning increases positive outcomes for parents and infants. Practitioners with proximity to pregnant people are in a powerful position to plant seeds of care for a nourished postpartum. We need care providers, of all kinds, to do more for postpartum. We also need to promote a standard of care that includes forecasting and supports beyond the birth space.
Doula care that doesn’t include postpartum is a bait and switch that leaves many people and families dropped at the curb.
Birth doulas who feel entitled to the excitement, intimacy and oxytocin rush of birth but provide no clear pathway for a continuity of care beyond the golden hour, contribute to harm.
Wrap around care saves lives.
Collaborative care models are the future.
These questions can be used by expectant families in prenatal visits, or as interview questions in selecting a care team.
Let’s eradicate the phrase “Nobody told me!” from our collective postpartum vernacular - we can do better.