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During the birth of their first child, Archie, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry engaged in a doula. A media highlight that has greatly helped to publicize these birth attendants, sometimes the subject of controversy.
Definition: what is a doula?
The doulas, also called “birth attendants” or “Non-medical childbirth specialists”, have seen renewed interest in recent years. They offer a psychological as well as physical support before, during and after pregnancy, but have no training in medical support.
What is the origin of doulas?
In ancient Greek, “doula” means “slave woman”, a term used to designate servants responsible for taking care of their mistress, even during childbirth. Today this term describes the function of a person providing support to pregnant women and co-parent.
According to the Doulas de France association, ” the doula aims to accompany and support the expectant mother and those around her during pregnancy, childbirth and the period postnatal […] A doula has no medical function, she is not a therapist. It supports the work of midwives ”.
What is the place of the doulas in Paris and in France?
Doulas are much less recognized and widespread in France than in Anglo-Saxon countries. Few in number, they rather concentrated on the Paris region. There is no recognition of doulas as birth professionals in France, neither by the State, nor by obstetricians or midwives. This is why their training is not standardized and is not compulsory and that no directory exists either established by the French administration to find his doula, everywhere in France.
What is the role of a doula before, during and after childbirth?
- The accompanying person can be hired as soon as the desire for a child sets in in the couple.
Her mission is to support the mother during pregnancy or adoption and during childbirth. She also helps during breastfeeding, during the first months or during abortions or miscarriages.
- She helps the expectant mother to build his birth plan.
- She accompanies parents in different places: at their home, at the maternity ward or during medical appointments.
- The doula can help you fit out the bedroom of the future baby.
- She tries to ensure a “Emotional security” to the mother to counter the uneasy feeling sometimes caused by the highly medicalized environment and the distance from health professionals. She can help parents communicate better with the medical profession.
- She can help the young mother solve little ones breastfeeding problems.
- The doula surrounds young parents and ensures a reassuring presence in first days of the child.
- It facilitates communication between future parents, and morally help the father or the “co-parent” by giving him advice and tools. She tries to help him find his place but also to better understand and apprehend its role.
- The doula does not practice no medical act, she is only an accompanist and a moral and physical support.
What is a doula used for?
The presence of a doula during your pregnancy is therefore intended to be emotional support, psychological help but also practical, and the guarantee of sound and valuable advice. Everything that concerns the medical field, however, does not fall within their competence. Their experience of birth, their course of study sometimes, and their good knowledge of the tools and the unfolding of events, make them ideal interlocutors during pregnancy and after childbirth. Depending on the needs expressed by the future parents, the doula can be present 24 hours a day!
Salary, price: how to pay your doula?
If we are to believe the website of the Association des doulas de France, these professionals – they are almost exclusively women – generally offer five to ten meetings, of a period of two o’clock each, divided between pregnancy, childbirth and the first months of the baby, possibly with a help with the initiation of breastfeeding. “During childbirth, if this is the request of the parents, the doula can offer complete availability around the spa, with a presence from the moment the mother (or spouse) feels the need, until after birth », specifies the Association.
Each birth attendant applies their personalized rates. These usually vary between € 40 and € 70 per meeting, and between € 200 and € 400 for a presence at childbirth. The doula is not reimbursed by Social Security, but parents can pay for its services through the CESU (Chèque Emploi Service Universel) or pre-funded CESU system., which allows parents to benefit from a tax deduction or tax credit.
Training: how to become a doula?
If it is not mandatory to declare yourself as a doula, the Association des doulas de France refers in its directory several practitioners, from backgrounds and varied training, who have all validated the Basic Training Course. This includes:
- Positioning, ethics and philosophy of the doula
- Counseling
- Installation and modalities in the exercise
- Non-medical support for parents in the following situations:
-The nine months of pregnancy, birth, basic concepts in anatomy, the course of childbirth;
-The birth plan;
– Innate needs of the baby and the mother during the first 6 weeks, and the process of attachment;
-Feeding with milk ;
-Perinatal bereavement, maternal difficulties;
– The couple, sexuality, the place of the father or co-parent.
This training, recommended by the doulas of France but not recognized for the moment, is being studied by several institutions. In addition, in 2006, the Association des doulas de France set up a charter developing “The founding principles and fundamental points committing the members of the association”, for offer a reassuring environment to future parents who would like to use their services.
Note that while in the United States or Great Britain, maternity hospitals can use doulas to support mothers, their presence in the delivery room is not not always appreciated by midwives et obstetricians French.
Fewer cesarean sections and greater comfort
How effective is the accompaniment of a doula? It all depends on the experience of pregnancy and childbirth by the pregnant person and those close to them, but those who have used a doula mostly testify to the benefits felt by this presence.
In addition to psychological comfort offered by this benevolent and non-medical assistance, it seems that future mothers would derive very concrete benefits, such as easier childbirth and better pain management. Gender and women’s health researcher Meghan A. Borhen analyzed 26 studies from 17 different countries, involving more than 15 women. Conclusion: Women who had continued support from a doula “Were more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal birth […] “. They had less need for pain relievers, less cesarean, had a shorter work and were more likely to be satisfied with their childbirth!
How to find and choose a companion at birth?
How to choose the right doula, when no training is recognized? Only the Association des doulas de France offers on its site a directory of several practitioners. They have all signed the charter which ensures, for example, the total neutrality of the doula, the support and respect of the medical profession, or even professional secrecy.
The association advises above all “To ask the doula that they contact toexplain their background, the training courses followed, and put them in touch with couples she has accompanied ”. You can find on the site several examples of questions to ask to choose your doula. For example, you can ask him to you talk about his experience of birth, personal and as a doula, or what motivated her to practice this profession.
Don’t hesitate to ask meet her to get an idea, before any engagement. The first meeting is generally free and it is therefore essential to take the time and dare to ask all the questions that come to mind. Finding your birth attendant remains above all a question of affinities, feelings and trust!