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A doula and a midwife have their own roles when providing support during pregnancy. When you are planning your baby, understanding the difference between a doula and a midwife will help you to decide which one you’ll need during your pregnancy. Let’s chat about it.
What’s a Doula?
A doula is a trained companion who provides physical and emotional support before, during and postpartum. Doulas are not healthcare professionals. Therefore, they work alongside other qualified healthcare providers to support you in your pregnancy.
Whilst a doula can provide support during your labor and delivery, they can’t deliver your baby. Doulas are fantastic in helping you develop your birth plan. A good Doula can help act as an intermediate between you and your medical practitioner, kind of like a third party.
There are different types of doulas which include:
Birth doulas provide support during pregnancy, specifically labor and childbirth. It’s common for first time expecting moms and couples to use a birth doula to make the experience easier.
Postnatal doulas provide support after pregnancy. They are fantastic in helping with breastfeeding, care of your new born baby and your personal after birth health care.
Antepartum doulas provide support if you have any complications in your pregnancy and you require bed rest. These people are angels, they can be the answer to your complicated pregnancy.
How can a Doula help me?
A doula is going to provide support for you during your pregnancy. A birth doula will be with you during the delivery of your baby. Having someone with experience on your side will help you stay calm. The more relaxed you stay during birth, the more it helps during delivery. You’ll often see a doula massaging your back, assisting with labor positions or guiding you through breathing techniques.
Perhaps where a doula can be the most helpful for new expecting moms, is after birth. Women have been giving birth by themselves for thousands of years, we survive birth just fine. A doula can provide after pregnancy care to help you to adjust and understand your new baby, help in breastfeeding techniques, how to connect with your baby and how to take care of him or her.
These services may make your pregnancy and birthing experience wonderful. Experts suggest that having continuous support during labor is very beneficial for you and your baby, so a doula has a great impact on the birth process.
There are many benefits of having a doula with you during the delivery.
- – The chance of a C-section may be reduced as they provide experience and calmness
- – Reduce the likelhood of having a labor induced (inducing artificial labor) delivery
- – Decrease how long you’re kicking and screaming in labor
- – Most importantly, a doula can help make the birthing experience as positive as possible.
If you are looking to hire a doula, make sure they have formal training through an authentic organization that are certified and have good experience. Your local doctor should be able to help or Google it!
Just look at all the aspects to make sure it is the right fit for you.
What is a Midwife?
Now, in comparison, a midwife is a specialist who has trained and is a healthcare professional. Midwives are able to deliver your baby as well as take care of you and your baby throughout all aspects of pregnancy. Some may also provide you with some gynecological services. A midwife will try to make your birth process as natural as possible as well as providing you with emotional support. They truly are wonderful at what they do, my midwife was the best emotional support and answered all of my questions, even the stupid ones.
Midwives will provide care from your early pregnancy phase till your delivery and some may also provide care 2 to 3 weeks after birth. Midwives are fantastic at trying to understand your needs and feelings, explain the changes you are going through during pregnancy, provide information about your labor and much more.
There are a few different types of midwives:
- – Certified-Nurse Midwife (CNM)
- – Certified Midwife (CM)
- – Certified Professional Midwife (CPM)
- – Direct-Entry Midwife (DEM)
- – Lay Midwife
You can also get a private midwife which is more expensive than hiring a normal midwife but they often have a smaller client base and are more accessible for your needs. If you have a complication in your pregnancy and have the budget, then it may be worth considering the option to hire a private midwife.
You can choose one based on your requirements and budget. It’s worth mentioning that some insurance companies can cover the cost of the midwives.
How can a Midwife Help me?
Apart from delivering babies, the other services which your midwife provides depend upon their qualification and the rules of your state. But in most of the states, they can provide a wide range of services.
Let’s look at some of the services they provide and the benefits of having a midwife.
- – Gynecological exams like pelvis, breast, cervix, etc.
- – Aim to avoid or minimize any technological intervention during delivery
- – Monitor fetal’s heartbeat during pregnancy and delivery
- – Provide more emotional support than doctors
- – Ease your doubts about your pregnancy
- – Try to make your birthing process as natural as possible by reducing the chances of a C-section
- – Try to reduce chances of preterm labor, labor induction, and infant mortality rate
- – Gives you support and guidelines to breastfeed your baby.
Apart from that, midwives also provide education in pregnancy health, exercise, nutrition, contraception, fertility, and many more. They truly are wonderful arent they?
So What’s the Main Difference between a Doula and Midwife?
Ok, in summary.
A doula and a midwife, both support the birth experience and seem similar, but they provide different types of services.
A midwife is a specialist and a qualified healthcare provider, trained for deliveries. Their aim is to deliver a healthy baby with the least amount of intervention. A midwife is a healthcare provider which means you can choose a midwife over an obstetrician for childbirth.
Whereas, a doula will take more care of you by giving you physical and emotional support. They are not qualified healthcare providers and can’t replace an obstetrician. But a doula can provide support and techniques to manage everything during pregnancy, especially the pain during labor.
By learning about what a doula and midwife do and comparing the services they provide, I hope it’s a little easier for you to decide which one suits your pregnancy the best. You can choose one, choose both or none, but I hope you’ll have a wonderful pregnancy and birth experience.